IRAN鈥橲 insistence that it has not been developing nuclear weapons has been backed up by evidence uncovered by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). If confirmed, it could defuse the long-running crisis over Iran鈥檚 nuclear ambitions.
Quoting authoritative sources, a report by Jane鈥檚 Defence Weekly says that inspectors had reached the 鈥渢entative conclusion鈥� that particles of enriched uranium found in Iran in 2003 came from Pakistan. Iran has always claimed that the particles, enriched for use in a bomb, had hitched a ride on imported equipment.
Analysis has shown that one particle, enriched to 54 per cent, matched uranium produced by the Pakistani nuclear programme, the report says. Another, enriched to 36 per cent, had been made in Russia and imported by Pakistan. Both are thought to have been on equipment supplied by a recently uncovered nuclear smuggling ring run by former Pakistani nuclear chief scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. The IAEA refused to comment when contacted by New 杏吧原创.
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