Iran Admits Importing Equipment to Enrich Uranium

[struggle4progress]

Iran has admitted importing parts for advanced centrifuges that could be used to enrich uranium, the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has said.

The secret report by the head of the agency, obtained by The Associated Press news agency, credited Iran with more nuclear openness but said questions remained about nearly two decades of covert activities first revealed nearly two years ago.
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Mohamed ElBaradei, the IAEA chief, said yesterday his agency had not found proof to date of a concrete link between Iran’s nuclear activities and its military programme, but “it was premature to make a judgment”.
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Besides the source of the enriched uranium samples, it said “important information” about Iran’s advanced centrifuge program “has frequently required repeated requests, and in some cases continues to involve changing or contradictory information”.
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http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=3006858


ElBaradei Sees No Military Link in Iran Atom Plans

The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday his inspectors had found no clear proof of a military dimension to Iran's atomic program, which the United States says is a front for developing a nuclear bomb.
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Speaking generally about the problem of proliferation of weapons-related technology, ElBaradei said states must do more to prevent the spread of atomic bomb know-how and technology.
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Diplomats on the IAEA board said the report would have many open questions because the Iranians delayed some inspections and haggled over the terms of access to some military sites.
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ElBaradei said that North Korea, not Iran, was the biggest proliferation threat facing the planet at the moment.
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http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=5308248

[Wickerman]

1. Lunabush said the U.S., not Iran, was the biggest proliferation threat

facing the planet - at least with George W. Bush* at the helm.