Iran Might Have Pursued Nukes After 2003, Documents Show

The International Atomic Energy Agency yesterday showed documentation to its 35-nation governing board suggesting that Iran might have pursued nuclear weapons development after 2003, the year a U.S. intelligence assessment said Tehran suspended its military atomic program, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Feb. 25).

“Certainly some of the dates … went beyond 2003,” said Simon Smith, British envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, following the closed-door session.

The intelligence was culled from various sources, including an agency probe into Iran’s nuclear program and intelligence from member nations, Smith said.

“The assumption is this was not something that was being thought about or talked about, but the assumption is it was being practically worked on,” he told journalists, noting that IAEA officials presented a “fairly detailed set of illustrations and descriptions of how you would build a nuclear warhead, how you would fit it into a delivery vehicle, how you would expect it to perform.”

International powers have suspected Iran of secretly seeking nuclear weapons, but Tehran maintains its atomic work is focused solely on producing energy.  Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, yesterday called the new documents “forgeries.”

Another diplomat said some information put forward at the meeting centered on an Iranian report on nuclear activities that analysts have said could be related to weapons development, AP reported.

The Iranian report did not indicate clearly whether it was addressing past nuclear activities or programs that were continuing in 2004, the diplomat said.  However, there could be significance in any indication of a sustained Iranian interest in nuclear weapons development after 2003.

The new evidence also included an Iranian video displaying missile re-entry vehicle mock-ups, according to a high-level diplomat who attended the meeting.  IAEA safeguards chief Olli Heinonen said the part’s design indicates it was engineered for nuclear warhead delivery, the diplomat said.

Other evidence pointed to Iranian work on warheads and missile flight patterns where “the height of the burst … didn’t make sense for conventional warheads,” the diplomat said.

Mohammad Khazaee, Iranian ambassador to the United Nations, said that intelligence provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency was “baseless” and possibly forged by an Iranian opposition organization.

“I'm afraid to say that, according to my information, some of these allegations were produced or fabricated by a terrorist group, which are listed as a terrorist group in the United States and somewhere else in Europe,” he said in possible reference to the Mujahedeen Khalq, or the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran.  The group was named a terrorist entity by the United States in 1997 and by the European Union in 2007 (George Jahn, Associated Press I/Washington Post, Feb. 26).

Meanwhile, the United States said it expects rapid movement on a third sanctions resolution to pressure Iran to suspend its controversial nuclear activities, officials said yesterday after the U.S. State Department hosted a meeting of diplomats from the five permanent U.N. Security Council member nations and Germany.

One high-level U.S. official said there have been no changes to the mild punitive measures contained in the original resolution drafted last month.

A vote on the resolution is likely to come within 10 days, the U.S. official said.  However, a unanimous decision is not anticipated from the 15-nation body (Anne Gearan, Associated Press II/International Herald Tribune, Feb. 26).

“Really we cannot be supportive of further sanctions,” said Giadalla Ettalhi, Libya’s envoy to the United Nations.  Libya holds a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council.

U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Russian and Chinese officials have sought a focus on incentives rather than penalties in pressing Iran to halt uranium enrichment activities, Reuters reported.

“They also reaffirmed their commitment to the dual-track approach for responding to the challenge posed by Iran's nuclear program,” he said.

However, Khazaee said Iran views any demands that it suspend uranium enrichment to be illegal and vowed that the new sanctions would not curb Tehran’s nuclear work.

“It would not be logical to comply with the resolution,” he said.  “We do not see any reason to suspend our enrichment (of uranium)” (Sue Pleming, Reuters/Washington Post, Feb. 25).

Khazaee added yesterday that imposing new sanctions on Iran “will harm the credibility” of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, Agence France-Presse reported.

If a new sanctions resolution damages the agency’s reputation, he said, “The big question would be that in future:  which credible agency is going to monitor the nuclear activities of other countries?” (Agence France-Presse I/Spacewar.com, Feb. 25).

Elsewhere, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today held what she called an “extensive discussion” on the Iranian nuclear standoff with her Chinese counterpart, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.

China has long maintained support for denuclearization incentives that could allow Tehran to accept a negotiated resolution for the stalemate.

“We believe we should continue to adopt a dual-track approach,” Yang said.  “At the end of the day, the results can only be achieved by peaceful negotiation” (Agence France-Presse II/Spacewar.com, Feb. 26).

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