December 1, 2003	Monday	Shawwal 6, 1424

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ISLAMABAD, Nov 30: Pakistan on Sunday dismissed news reports about an ongoing probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency about potential nuclear links between Iran and Pakistan.

“There is no such investigation going on,” the Foreign Office spokesman Masood Khan said on Sunday.

He was responding to a question regarding a news report in the Saturday edition (Nov 29) of the US daily Los Angeles Times, that claimed the IAEA was investigating potential links between the atomic programmes of Iran and Pakistan.

The LAT report suggested that the IAEA probe was initiated after discovering similarities between Iran’s clandestine uranium enrichment programme and the technology used by Pakistan to develop its nuclear bomb.

The report quoted an unnamed Western diplomat as saying: “The IAEA had not determined whether the centrifuge plans had come directly from Pakistan or were obtained or stolen from a Pakistani nuclear laboratory by (a) middleman.”

The Foreign Office spokesman pointed out that any similarity in the technology that Tehran used for its enrichment programme was due to the fact that “all present-day centrifuges are based on the Zippe design and look similar since form follows function.”

Terming the report “completely false and motivated,” he said allegations regarding Pakistan’s assistance to the Iranian uranium enrichment programme had already been denied at the highest level.

The spokesman also denied the veracity of a reference in the report that suggested that Pakistan’s leading scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had made several trips to Iran, beginning in 1987, to help with Iran’s nuclear programme and that he was given a villa on the Caspian Sea in return for his assistance.

“Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has never set foot in Iran or ever met with any Iranian nuclear expert,” the spokesman said.

“Such reports appear to be part of a malicious campaign against Pakistan’s consistent and established record of safeguarding its sensitive nuclear technology and ensuring that this technology was not transferred by any organisation or individual to any other country,” he maintained.

Asserting that Pakistan’s commitment not to export any sensitive technologies remained unquestionable, he reiterated that Pakistan had a strong export control regime in place and its record in this regard was impeccable.

In this context, Masood Khan referred to a response by the US State Department spokesman on March 10 to media speculations alleging Pakistan’s cooperation with Iran in the nuclear field.

He recounted that the State Department spokesman had said that Pakistan had affirmed that it did not want to become a source of sensitive technology for Iran and the US believed that Pakistan took this responsibility seriously.

The latest Los Angeles Times report is one of a series of reports that have appeared in the Western media, pointing to suspected Pakistan assistance to Iran in the latter’s enrichment programme.

Pakistan and Iran have denied any nuclear cooperation.