Foreign Correspondence

[Amaunet]

Diplomats: Iran May Have Nuke Equipment

It should be noted:

Iran has completed the integration of a new Chinese-origin navigation system on the Shihab-3 during the latest test of the intermediate-range missile.
http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2004/august/08_17_1.html

China and Iran have signed a 100 billion dollar gas deal that eventually could take the total value to as much as 200 billion dollars and China is known to trade weapons for oil or gas.
#msg-4431516

Through bilateral agreements, rather than international mechanisms, and using arms sales and dual-use technology transfers - nuclear equipment, guidance systems for missiles - to cement ties, China has obtained oil exploration and exploitation rights in some of the most turbulent nations in the Middle East and North Africa - Iran, Sudan, Libya, Algeria and, until the recent war, Iraq.
#msg-3830816
http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=041118&cat=news&st=newsd86e9qbo0&src=....

-Am

Diplomats: Iran May Have Nuke Equipment

GEORGE JAHN

Associated Press
Posted on Thu, Dec. 02, 2004

VIENNA, Austria - Iran may be hiding equipment bought by its military that could be used in a nuclear weapons program despite its recent agreement to freeze all such programs and place them under U.N. supervision, diplomats said Thursday.

The diplomats told The Associated Press that Iran has yet to respond to a request by the International Atomic Energy Agency - the U.N. nuclear watchdog - for a full list of the components used at the suspected military site of Lavizan-Shian after handing over a partial inventory in October.

The incomplete inventories are particularly worrying because they reflect purchases by Iran's Physics Research Center, an organization run by the military, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity.

Iran insists its nuclear program is strictly for peaceful purposes, and the agency has said it has found no direct evidence to challenge that statement.

A linked issue is concern that nuclear equipment has disappeared from that complex and might have been moved to a nearby site, said the diplomats, who are accredited to the agency.

Additionally, Tehran has shrugged off a request made months ago and continues to deny IAEA inspectors access to Parchin, a military testing ground linked to possible experiments with high explosives that can be used with nuclear weapons, the diplomats said.

Because Iran insists that its nuclear programs are nonmilitary, any enrichment related activities run by the armed forces would be clandestine and thus evade the freeze.

Some diplomats familiar with Iran's nuclear dossier expressed apprehension that the focus on whether Iran was honoring its commitment to freeze all declared uranium enrichment programs allowed Tehran to deflect attention from the outstanding questions about the inventory list, the missing equipment and the denial of access.

After weeks of international pressure, Iran this week reluctantly agreed to a full suspension of its enrichment programs. The United States and its allies claim, however, that Iran wants to process uranium into weapons-grade material for the core of nuclear warheads.




http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/10321588.htm