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What we expected to find in Iraq not Iran - worried? - well I am :(

Mar 13, 2004 1:40PM PST

VIENNA, March 10 ? United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb, European and American diplomats said Wednesday.

Among traces that inspectors detected last year are some refined to 90 percent of the rare 235 isotope, the diplomats said. While the International Atomic Energy Agency has previously reported finding "weapons grade" traces, it has not revealed that some reached such a high degree of enrichment.

The presence of such traces raises the stakes in the international debate over Iran's nuclear program and increases the urgency of determining the uranium's origin. If the enrichment took place in Iran, it means the country is much further along the road to becoming a nuclear weapons power than even the most aggressive intelligence estimates anticipated.

Iran has said that its nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes, while the United States contends it has secretly tried to produce nuclear weapons. The atomic agency is expected to vote Friday on a resolution criticizing Iran for lack of candor about its nuclear efforts.

Iran has said that all of the highly enriched uranium found on its nuclear facilities was contamination that occurred before imported equipment arrived in the country. Iranian officials said they could not identify the origin of the contamination because the equipment was imported through middlemen in five countries.

I.A.E.A. officials said the contamination may have originated in Pakistan. Abdul Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani nuclear weapons scientist, has admitted secretly supplying uranium enrichment equipment to Iran and other nations. The agency has asked Pakistan for permission to take environmental samples from its enrichment facilities to see if they match the weapons-grade traces in Iran. "Pakistan could let Iran off the I.A.E.A. hook," said a European diplomat here.

American officials argue that traces of such highly enriched uranium, regardless of their origin, are another disturbing clue to what they believe are Iran's hidden ends.

"What it shows is that they have a system that is capable of producing weapons grade uranium," said an American official speaking from Washington. "If it's an assembly that was removed from Pakistan or elsewhere, it's already battle tested," he said.

More found on link
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/11/international/middleeast/11NUKE.html?th

Discussion is locked

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Re:What we expected to find in Iraq not Iran - worried? - well I am :(
Mar 14, 2004 12:58AM PST

I'm worried!! isn't this about the same thing that started the war in Iraq?

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Re: What we expected to find in Iraq not Iran - worried? - well I am :(
Mar 14, 2004 1:56AM PST

Hi, Mary K.

>>isn't this about the same thing that started the war in Iraq?<<
Don't tell me you think our over-hasty exit from Iraq is actually to free up troops to attack Iran? Of course, Iran didn't try to kill George the First, so it was only #2 in the "axis of evil..."

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