More Nations Drawn Into Iran Nuke Probe

[pinto]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-3553475,00.html


Saturday December 27, 2003 2:01 AM
By GEORGE JAHN

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - While Pakistani scientists are believed to have played a major role in advancing Iran's nuclear program, more than a half-dozen other countries are now being drawn into the U.N. investigation, diplomats and arms experts say.

They say a monthslong probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency has traced the origins of Iran's program to the late 1980s, when Iran was supplied with the first drawings on centrifuge technology, its main way of enriching uranium - leading to suspicions it was developing nuclear weapons.

The investigations have widened ``well beyond'' Pakistan, Russia and China to include companies in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and other West European countries, said one diplomat.