Global Security Newswire

Malaysia has allowed International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to interview a key member of the international nuclear network formerly headed by Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Financial Times reported Saturday (see GSN, Feb. 18).

Agency experts first interviewed Buhary Syed Abu Tahir, described as the network’s chief financial officer, last month, the Times reported. Additional interviews are expected, Western diplomats said.

The sessions with Tahir, who remains in custody in Malaysia, are expected to provide information backing or refuting Iran’s description of its acquisition of nuclear equipment, according to the Times (Stephen Fidler, Financial Times, March 12).

Meanwhile, Pakistan today denied reports that it was sending used centrifuge components to the U.N. agency for testing to help determine the source of highly enriched uranium contamination in Iran (see GSN, March 11).

“We are not providing any centrifuges,” Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said. “These are entirely baseless reports” (Agence France-Presse/Khaleej Times, March 14).