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VIENNA, Sept 25: UN atomic inspectors have found more traces of highly-enriched uranium in Iran, but are not certain whether it was produced by Iran or due to contamination from imported equipment, diplomats said on Thursday.
At stake is whether Iran is producing highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, as the United States claims, or whether the traces came along with second-hand equipment bought abroad, as Tehran says.
The traces were found in the first fortnight of last month by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Kalaye Electric Company, near Tehran, said the diplomats.
The Iranians claim this site is not involved in their nuclear programme but was used for storing equipment, they added.
The United States has charged that the Iranians have used Kalaye to test centrifuges used to make highly enriched uranium that can be used to make atomic bombs.
“This news (of traces at Kalaye) is big news perhaps but it didn’t lead us any further into having answers,” a diplomat said.
The Iranians claim that their nuclear programme is peaceful and that traces of highly enriched uranium found earlier this year at a factory to make nuclear fuel and located in Natanz, 250 kilometres south of Tehran, were due to contamination from second-hand components bought abroad and imported into Iran.
It is these components that would have been stored temporarily at Kalaye, allegedly leaving the uranium traces.
Washington asserts that Tehran does not need highly enriched uranium for a reactor it is building with Russian help in Bushehr, in southern Iran, since such highly enriched fuel is not needed for civilian programmes that produce nuclear energy for electricity.
A Western diplomat close to the IAEA said the new find could support either the US or Iranian side of the story.
The IAEA on Sept 12 gave Iran until Oct 31 to clear up questions about its nuclear programme, including the origin of the highly enriched uranium.
The IAEA has asked Iran to provide a list of equipment Tehran says it imported from abroad.
The IAEA has also urged Iran to suspend enriching uranium but Iran announced on Monday that it had launched a trial run at a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz.
IAEA inspectors are to leave for Iran on Sunday and remain there until the Oct 31 deadline.
IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky said: “We have a senior team of inspectors leaving for Iran on Sunday, which will be the beginning of an extensive programme of inspection.”
Mr Gwozdecky refused to comment on any results from the inspections at Kalaye.
He would only confirm that “testing at Kalaye was done in the first half of August”.
KHATAMI: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami on Thursday described as “unjust” a UN ultimatum to convince inspectors that its atomic programme is peaceful or face sanctions.
Mr Khatami made the comments, his first public remarks since the International Atomic Energy Agency issued the Oct 31 deadline, during a meeting with Belgium’s outgoing ambassador, a news agency, ISNA, said.
Just when Iran had begun talks with the IAEA on signing an agreement that would allows snap inspections of Iranian nuclear sites, “the agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution under foreign pressure that is unjust toward Iran”, he was quoted as saying.
“We ask of the IAEA that it recognize our right to have access to civilian nuclear energy and to provide its aid in conformity with international regulations, and we give the agency the assurance that the Islamic Republic of Iran does not seek to acquire the atomic bomb,” President Khatami said. —AFP
