|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||
 |
 |
    |
|
|
|||
 |
|
||
|
|||
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
Iran Uranium Traces Probably Came From Pakistan, U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Inspectors Say
Inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency believe that traces of highly enriched uranium found in Iran likely came from Pakistan, Jane’s Defense Weekly reported yesterday (see GSN, Aug. 9). “IAEA inspectors have reached a tentative conclusion that the contamination came from equipment provided by the nuclear smuggling network headed by Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan,” according to the magazine, which quoted “sources close to the agency,” Agence France-Presse reported. “The confirmation was only possible after Islamabad gave the IAEA data to verify the uranium source and the U.S. provided a simulation of the Pakistani nuclear program that matched the account,” the Jane’s report adds. Inspectors believe they can confirm that the sample of uranium, enriched to 54 percent and found at an Iranian site, came from Pakistani equipment, according to AFP. A separate sample of uranium, enriched to 36 percent and also found in Iran, originated from Russian equipment that Moscow had supplied to China, which in turn passed it on to Pakistan, the report in Jane’s says. Khan also provided this equipment to Iran, it added. “The sources note that the origins of several other contamination samples are difficult to trace and may never be known,” the report states (Agence France-Presse/SpaceWar.com, Aug. 9). A Pakistani official yesterday said his country was cooperating with the U.N. nuclear watchdog, but that IAEA inspectors would not be allowed into Pakistan, AFP reported. “Pakistan is a responsible member of the international community. We have been cooperating with the IAEA and sharing information,” said Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri, on a two-day visit to Tehran. “But as far as inspections of Pakistan are concerned, that is out of the question. We are not a signatory of the NPT (Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty),” he added. The agency wants to take environmental samples from Pakistan, according to AFP, in order to compare them with the Iranian samples in order to verify Tehran’s claims that contamination originated in Pakistani equipment (Agence France-Presse/Daily Star, Aug. 9). Meanwhile, Iran is demanding that France, Germany and the United Kingdom support its right to nuclear technology that could be used to produce weapons, a European Union official and diplomats said yesterday. Iran presented a list of demands during recent talks in Paris with the three European powers, the Associated Press reported. The European countries had hoped to persuade Tehran to renounce its nuclear drive, but now are closer to backing the U.S. position to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for alleged violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the diplomats said. The Iranian list, obtained by the Associated Press yesterday, includes demands that the Europeans: support Iran’s access to “advanced technology” for its nuclear program, including equipment “with dual use”; “Remove impediments” preventing Iran’s access to such technology; promise to keep such commitments to Iran even if faced with “legal (or) political ... limitations,” such as potential Security Council sanctions; and commit to push “rigorously and systematically” for a nuclear-free Middle East and to “provide security assurances” against a nuclear attack on Iran, both seen as references to Israel. The demands stunned senior French, German and British negotiators, according to a European Union official familiar with the talks. The meeting concluded “with the two sides talking past each other,” said a diplomat familiar with the meeting. The United Kingdom is “not prepared to stand by and watch [the Iranians] collect the necessary technology to make a weapon,” the British Foreign Office said, but declined to comment on the negotiations. An Iranian official said on yesterday that there is no reason for suspicion about Iran’s nuclear work, despite U.S. allegations that the Islamic republic is trying to develop nuclear weapons. “Iran has not violated any of its commitments to international treaties in its nuclear program,” Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi told the Islamic Republic News Agency (George Jahn, Associated Press/Cape Cod Times, Aug. 9). Elsewhere, U.S. President George W. Bush said yesterday that the United States is working with other countries to maintain pressure on Iran to abandon what Washington believes is a nuclear weapons drive, the New York Times reported. “Iran must comply with the demands of the free world, and that’s where we sit right now,” Bush said. “And my attitude is that we’ve got to keep pressure on the government, and help others keep pressure on the government, so there’s kind of a universal condemnation of illegal weapons activities,” he added. “We’ve relied upon others to send the message for us,” he said. “And the foreign ministers of Germany, France and Great Britain have gone in as a group to send a message on behalf of the free world that Iran must comply with the demands of the free world,” Bush added. Iran’s robust international trade with other countries has made U.S. sanctions less than effective, Bush said. “We’ve totally sanctioned them,” he said. “In other words, there’s no sanctions — you can’t — we’re out of sanctions,” he added (Elisabeth Bumiller, New York Times, Aug. 9). The Bush administration is expected to ask a meeting of the IAEA board on Sept. 13 to declare Iran in breach of the Nonproliferation Treaty, the first step in seeking U.N. sanctions, according to the London Guardian (Simon Tisdall, The Guardian, Aug. 10).
| ||||||||||
Back to top
