Diplomats:IAEA tests on enriched uranium traces found inside Iran vindica

[Judi Lynn]

Diplomats: IAEA tests on enriched uranium traces found inside Iran vindicate Tehran in at least one instance
By George Jahn
ASSOCIATED PRESS
5:10 a.m. August 10, 2004

VIENNA, Austria – The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has traced some particles of enriched uranium found in Iran to Pakistan but has not yet verified Tehran's claims that all such material came into the country on equipment bought on the black market, diplomats said Tuesday.

Still, the reported finding boosts Iran's stance that it did not process uranium into its enriched form, which can be used both as fuel to generate power or as the core of nuclear warheads. It also weakens the case being built by the United States and its allies accusing the Islamic Republic of past covert enrichment as part of a clandestine weapons program.

Iran's contention that all traces of enriched uranium came into the country on "contaminated" black market equipment has been the focus of months of investigations by the International Atomic Energy Agency as it tries to determine whether the Islamic Republic violated the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

Faced with evidence, Iran over the past year has acknowledged clandestinely assembling a centrifuge program to enrich uranium for what it says are plans to produce electricity but has denied actually embarking on the process.
(snip/...)

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20040810-0510-iran-nuclear.html

[Nambe]

1. Remember experts saying the ME is too unstable for Iraq attack?

Well now that the US has completely destabilized the area, anything goes. Who's going to spank Iran. Duck and Cover.

[jpak]

2. ChimpCo never let the facts get in its way when I-raq was the target.

Bush's prewar claim that "The IAEA says I-raq is 6 months away from a nucular bomb" was an outright lie.

Do they really care what the IAEA concluded in this matter???

Will they let the facts impede their plans to launch a spectacular pre-election pre-emptive air strike against I-ranian "nucular targits" ????

Nope...

[cal04]

3. Nuclear Tests Vindicate Iran So Far

New findings by the U.N. atomic agency appear to strengthen Iran's claim it has not enriched uranium domestically and weaken U.S. arguments that the country is hiding a nuclear weapons program, diplomats said Tuesday.

The diplomats, who are familiar with Iran's nuclear dossier, told The Associated Press that the International Atomic Energy Agency has established that at least some enriched particles found in Iran originated in Pakistan. The origin of hundreds of other samples has not been established. Still, the findings bolsters Tehran's assertion that all such traces were inadvertently imported on ``contaminated'' equipment it bought on the black market.

The findings also could hurt the case being built by the United States and its allies, which accuse Iran of past covert enrichment in efforts toward making nuclear weapons. In Washington, the Bush administration said it was awaiting hearing the full report on the U.N. agency's findings and was unswayed in its suspicions about Iran's covert nuclear agenda.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html

[cal04]

4. Iran uranium source revealed

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) believe they have resolved a key question underlying Iran's nuclear programme: whether particles of enriched uranium detected in the country are due to previous contamination on imported equipment - as Tehran claims - or represent a smoking gun proving a clandestine nuclear weapons programme.

IAEA inspectors have reached a tentative conclusion that the contamination came from equipment provided by the nuclear smuggling network headed by Pakistani scientist AQ Khan, sources close to the agency told JDW.

The existence of the particles of enriched uranium found by the agency in Iran has been a crucial factor in the continuing international dispute over whether Tehran has reneged on its obligations to inform the IAEA of all enrichment activities. Tehran claims that it has not introduced uranium into any enrichment facility - a step that would require IAEA notification - but it could not explain the presence of the enriched uranium particles.

Now, the sources say, the inspectors believe they can confirm that a sample of uranium enriched to 54%, found at one Iranian site, has come from Pakistani equipment. The confirmation was only possible after Islamabad gave the IAEA data to verify the uranium source and the US provided a simulation of the Pakistani nuclear programme that matched the account. A separate sample of 36% enriched uranium contamination derived from Russian equipment that Moscow had supplied to China. Beijing then passed it on to Pakistan as part of previous nuclear assistance and Khan later sold it to Iran.

http://www.janes.com/security/international_security/news/jdw/jdw040810_1_n.shtml

[struggle4progress]

5. Reminded again that Pakistan has been spreading ...

... nuclear technology via the black market, the Bushistas completely ignore the Pakistani behavior.