Nuke watchdog finds more enriched uranium in Iran
Nuke watchdog finds more enriched uranium in Iran
Agencies, Vienna/New York
The United Nations nuclear watchdog has found further traces of
enriched uranium in Iran, though this discovery could support
Tehran's explanation that the traces are due to contamination,
diplomats told Reuters.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the diplomats said the new
traces of highly-enriched uranium were found at the Kalaye
Electric Co.
Earlier this year, the UN inspectors found traces of enriched
uranium at another nuclear site in Iran, raising suspicions that
Iran has been secretly purifying uranium for use in an atomic
weapon.
Tehran, which says its nuclear program is peaceful, has blamed
the earlier find, at Natanz, on machinery it says it purchased
abroad. This explanation has met with skepticism inside and
outside the IAEA.
In New York, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said on
Wednesday that his country would not give up its uranium
enrichment program, insisting it was purely for civilian
purposes.
"It's a matter of national pride to have this capability, this
technology especially when it's produced domestically. This does
not mean that producing (nuclear) weapons will be on our agenda,"
he told a business and security forum in New York.
"The capability is the important thing, that we can produce
enriched uranium," Kharazi added.
However, one Western based diplomat said failure to get a
positive result from samples taken at Kalaye would have been
surprising, as this is where Iran said it stored the centrifuge
components which it says were contaminated.
"Not getting a positive result would have been odd," the
diplomat said. "This was the facility where components used in
the centrifuges were said to be stored and manufactured."
Another Western diplomat disagreed, saying that this finding
would probably not vindicate Iran, but complicated its
explanation.
"This finding may actually raise even more questions about the
discovery of enriched uranium," the diplomat told Reuters.
IAEA officials were not immediately available for comment.
Centrifuges are used to purify uranium for use in nuclear fuel
-- or in weapons.
Iran has until Oct. 31 to enable the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) to prove it has no secret nuclear weapons
program, as the United States alleges, or it will be reported to
the UN Security Council for possible economic sanctions.