IRAN: Traces of bomb-grade uranium found two years ago in Iran came from contaminated Pakistani equipment and is not evidence of a clandestine nuclear weapons programme, a group of US government experts and other international scientists has determined.
"The biggest smoking gun that everyone was waving is now eliminated with these conclusions," said a senior official, who discussed the still-confidential findings on condition of anonymity.
Scientists from the US, France, Japan, Britain and Russia met in secret during the past nine months to analyse data collected by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Recently the group, whose existence had not been previously reported, matched samples of the highly enriched uranium - a key ingredient for a nuclear weapon - with centrifuge equipment turned over by the government of Pakistan.
Iran has long contended that the uranium traces were the result of contaminated equipment bought years ago from Pakistan. The Bush administration, however, had pointed to the material as evidence that Iran was making bomb-grade ingredients.
The conclusions will be shared with IAEA board members in a report due in the first week of September, according to US and European officials. It "will say the contamination issue is resolved", a Western diplomat said.
For months US officials have privately acknowledged they were losing confidence that the uranium traces would prove to be evidence of a nuclear weapons programme. According to officials, a recent US intelligence estimate found that Iran is further away from making bomb-grade uranium than was previously thought.
The agency's findings come as European efforts to negotiate with Iran on the future of its nuclear programme have faltered. They could also complicate a renewed push by the Bush administration to increase international pressure on Tehran.
US officials, eager to move the Iran issue to the UN Security Council, which has the authority to impose sanctions, have begun a new round of briefings for allies designed to convince them that Iran's real intention is to use its energy programme as a cover for bomb building.
France, Britain and Germany have been trying for two years to convince Iran that it could avoid Security Council action if it gives up sensitive aspects of its nuclear energy programme that could be diverted for weapons work.
Iran has said it has no intention of making nuclear weapons and will not give up its right to nuclear energy.
Iran built its nuclear programme in secret over 18 years with the help of Abdul Qadeer Khan, a senior Pakistani official and nuclear scientist who sold spare parts from his country's own weapons programme to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Khan's black-market dealings were uncovered in 2003.
John Bolton, now US ambassador to the UN, who had served as the administration's point man on nuclear issues, suggested during congressional testimony in June 2004 that the Iranians were lying about the contamination.
The IAEA, in its third year of an investigation in Iran, has not found proof of a weapons programme. But several serious questions, some connected to Iran's involvement with Khan, remain unanswered.
While the investigation has been under way, Iran and the three European countries have been trying to reach a diplomatic compromise. Their negotiations fell apart earlier this month and Iran resumed some nuclear work it had put on hold during the talks.
Yesterday France, Britain and Germany deferred further talks, citing the resumption as a breach of an agreement that processing would not happen while talks continued.
European officials convened at an IAEA board meeting two weeks ago to discuss Iran's actions and sought a new report for this week on the country's programme.
However, the report was pushed back to September 3rd so that the group of scientists could meet once more to draft an account of their findings. - (LA Times/Washington Post service)