12 December 2004	Sunday	29 Shawwal 1425

VIENNA, Dec 11: High-energy neutron experiments in Iran that could be either civilian-oriented or related to making an atomic bomb have risen Suspicions since they are allegedly conducted under military supervision , Diplomats said on Friday and in recent interviews.

The experiments, carried out with a neutron generator, are thought to be Taking place at an alleged base of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

They involve the sort of dual-use technology that the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has its eye on, but has trouble investigating since it can have civilian as well as military applications.

But a diplomat with close links to intelligence sources said "the combination of the existence of a neutron initiator in a secret facility run by the Revolutionary Guard, making high- and not low-energy neutron experiments is a sufficient good indicator to a suspected military program".

The experiments may involve beryllium metal, a strategically sensitive item that the Vienna-based IAEA discussed in a report on Iran last month.

One diplomat cited open-literature reports by Iranian nuclear scientists about work with high-energy neutrons and beryllium in universities in Birmingham, England, and in Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, northeastern Iran.

The experiments could be a link in weapons activities, the diplomats alleged.-AFP