[Pan_Yans Wife]

Iran Turns Over Nuclear Documents to U.N.
By GEORGE JAHN
ASSOCIATED PRESS

VIENNA, Austria (AP) -

Iran handed the U.N. nuclear agency documents on its past atomic energy activities on Thursday, but the dossier apparently did not include the origin of traces of weapons-grade uranium found in the country.

"We have submitted a report fully disclosing all our past activities in the nuclear field," Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's representative to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters.

Neither Salehi nor IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei would elaborate on the contents of the documents, which Iran turned over ahead of an Oct. 31 deadline to prove its nuclear program is peaceful.

ElBaradei said he expected the information to answer all outstanding questions about Iran's nuclear activities. "I was assured that the report I got today is a comprehensive and accurate declaration," he said.

But in comments to The Associated Press, Salehi indicated the origin of traces of highly enriched weapons-grade uranium found in at least two different sites inside the country was not in the package.

Diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity said earlier this week that Iran was expected to provide the origin of the traces, which ElBaradei has called the most troubling aspect of Tehran's nuclear activities.

Iran insists the contamination, found in environmental samples taken by agency experts, was imported on equipment it uses for peaceful nuclear purposes and that it does not know the country of origin because the equipment was purchased through third parties.

"How can you give the (equipment's) origin ... if you have taken it from the intermediaries on the foreign market?" Salehi said.

The agency needs to match traces found inside Iran to isotope samples from the country the contaminated equipment came from as a way of testing the assertion that enrichment to weapons levels took place outside Iran. If the samples do not match, arguments by the United States and its allies that the high enrichment took place inside Iran as part of an arms program would be greatly strengthened.

The IAEA's board of governors meets Nov. 20. If it finds that suspicions remain about a possible weapons program, it could find Iran in violation of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. That would mean U.N. Security Council involvement and possible international sanctions.

Iran previously had insisted it would continue enriching uranium to non-weapons levels as part of a program it says is aimed only at producing electricity.

On Tuesday, Iran told the foreign ministers of Britain, Germany and France that they would suspend uranium enrichment and sign a protocol allowing spot checks of its nuclear programs. ElBaradei said Thursday he was expecting a letter "in the next few days ... agreeing to the conclusion" of the additional protocol.

Iran has allowed IAEA inspectors to view some sites, including at least one military facility, but for weeks has hesitated at making a full commitment to the IAEA demands.

The agreement giving U.N. inspectors unrestricted access to Iran's nuclear facilities allows the country to maintain its "national dignity," an Iranian government official said Thursday.

Massoumeh Ebtekar, one of Iran's six vice presidents, said on a visit to Vienna that the agreement was "a sign of our sincere commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear technologies."

"It's a sign of commitment to our national dignity and our right to use these technologies in a peaceful manner," Ebtekar said after meeting with Austrian President Thomas Klestil.

She said the Iranian government views the agreement as "totally binding" and described it as "a sign of our willingness to cooperate and to work with the IAEA."

http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-me/2003/oct/23/102309785.html

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Iran Tells U.N. It Has No More Nuclear Secrets
Thu October 23, 2003
By Louis Charbonneau

Iran on Thursday acknowledged having been "discreet" about its nuclear program in the past but said it had no more secrets after giving the United Nations what it called a full declaration of all its nuclear activities.

The head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, said Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, delivered the declaration eight days ahead of an IAEA deadline for Iran to prove it has no secret atomic weapons program as Washington alleges.

"I was assured that the report I got today is a comprehensive and accurate declaration," ElBaradei said.

"It is a large set of documents. We obviously have to start our verification activities (but) it is going to take us time to go through all these documents and reconstruct the full history of the program," he said.

Salehi declined to give any details about the declaration, a stack of papers in a binder about one and half inches thick.

"We have submitted a report that fully discloses our past activities, peaceful activities, in the nuclear field," Salehi told reporters.

However, he said the secretive nature of some of Iran's activities -- which has helped fuel U.S. concerns that Iran is covertly developing an atomic weapon -- was a natural response to sanctions unfairly imposed on the Islamic republic.

"The important thing to note is that Iran had to do some of its activities very discreetly because of the sanctions that have been imposed on Iran for the past 25 years," Salehi said.

"Those activities...that were legal activities...were within its (Iran's) rights, but nevertheless it had to do them discreetly," he added.

Submission of the report meets a key demand of the Vienna-based IAEA, which set the October 31 deadline.

ElBaradei has not had a chance to look through the declaration and declined to say whether Iran had fulfilled the requirements of a tough IAEA resolution passed on September 12.

"I hope we will come to the conclusion that we have seen all past nuclear activities in Iran and that all materials and activities in Iran are under (IAEA) safeguards," he said.

"AXIS OF PROVIDENCE"

The IAEA is particularly keen to have details about the origin of uranium enrichment centrifuge parts, which Iran says it bought on the black market and blames for contaminating two Iranian sites where the IAEA found traces of bomb-grade uranium.

"We should know the origin of materials and equipment to verify the Iranian statement that this (enriched uranium) was the result of contamination," ElBaradei said.

In a play on President Bush's description of Iran, North Korea and pre-war Iraq as an "axis of evil," Salehi said Iran and Europe have joined forces in an "axis of providence" based on dialogue and mutual respect.

Salehi also reiterated his country's commitment to a deal brokered by the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany in Tehran on Tuesday, under which Iran pledged to accept tougher IAEA inspections and suspend its uranium enrichment program.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin had briefed his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov on the Tehran visit and both men expressed their satisfaction with Iran's declaration.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=MYE2315YXPOAKCRBAEOCFFA?type=worldNews&storyID=3675843