Posted on 12/15/2007 11:30:14 AM PST by knighthawk
BERLIN - Germany expelled an Iranian diplomat in July after he tried to acquire components for the Islamic Republics disputed nuclear programme, a magazine reported on Saturday.
The Der Spiegel weekly said the expulsion came after the diplomat contacted a specialist firm in the southern state of Bavaria to buy a systems control component which would be essential in the enrichment of uranium.
The magazine cited no sources but identified the consulate attache involved as Mohraramali D.
The Foreign Ministry declined to comment. Authorities in Tehran were not immediately available to comment.
The magazine did not say whether the component would have been for high-grade enrichment, for bomb material, or low-grade enrichment, which Iran says it carries out to make power plant fuel.
Iran denies it wants a nuclear bomb and says its atomic work is aimed at boosting civilian power generation.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran for failing to comply to demands to suspend its uranium enrichment, a process the West believes Tehran is trying to master to enable it to build nuclear weapons.
European Union leaders on Friday reiterated their support for possible additional sanctions against Iran if it does not stop enrichment work. The EU has also offered support if Tehran does give it up.
However, a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate this month said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons programme in 2003.
Nope...nothing to worry about from the mullahs in Tehran.Absolutely nothing.
Ping
Naw! The NIE says they quit doing that stuff in 2003.
The BS factor of the recent NIE does come to mind here...
How could that be??? We were told they weren’t working on a nuclear program.
If there were any justice at all, the purveyors of the NIE would end up as new residents of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "camp" dressed in pink underwear.
ping
Teheran hatte im April 2006 die Urananreicherung in Natans wieder aufgenommen, nach einer Analyse der amerikanischen Geheimdienste soll der militärische Teil des Nuklearprogramms aber 2003 eingestellt worden sein. Die Bundesregierung geht allerdings davon aus, dass Iran sich "weiterhin intensiv um die Beschaffung von Gütern und Technologie für militärische Anwendungen aller Art aus westlichen Industriestaaten" bemühe - so heißt es in einem aktuellen Warnschreiben.
Teheran restarted the enrichment of uranium at Natans in April, 2006, though - according to an analysis of the American secret services - the military part of the nuclear program is said to have been abandoned in 2003. The German federal government assumes that Iran is interested "intensely in the acquisition of military goods and technologies from western industrial countries" - so it states in a current warning.
Thanks...
Welcome
But of course Iran is still building its nuclear program.
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