Britain Demands Iran Come Clean on Nuclear Ambitions
9/29/03
Iran must declare "unequivocally" that it harbours no ambitions to develop nuclear arms, Britain's Europe Minister Denis MacShane said Monday.
The will of the European Union and the rest of the international community is "very, very clear", MacShane told reporters as he arrived for a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
"We want Iran to state unequivocally that there are no nuclear weapon possibilities that could be developed as a result of any nuclear programme in Iran," he said.
"We want Iran to cooperate fully with the international inspection agencies," added MacShane, standing in for Foreign Secretary Jack Straw at the EU meeting.
"That's what the entire international community wants from Iran and I hope Iran is listening to that common and uniform demand from everybody in the international community."
Iran on Sunday signalled its willingness to comply with the demands of the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency, but vowed to continue its uranium enrichment programme.
"We are trying and we are determined to cooperate" with the IAEA, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi told ABC television in the United States.
The IAEA has given Iran until October 31 to answer all its questions concerning allegations that it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.
The EU foreign ministers are expected to renew their demands for Tehran to sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would allow IAEA inspectors to descend on its nuclear sites without warning.
The EU has warned that, without credible guarantees over the protocol, it will review its economic ties with Iran.
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/030929085901.aok9bbfsIran acknowledges enriched uranium found
Monday, Sep. 29, 2003
Tehran — Iran acknowledged Monday that traces of highly enriched uranium have been found at a second site in the country, but it insisted the source was contaminated equipment purchased from another country.
Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said enriched uranium has been found at the Kalay-e Electric Co., just west of Tehran.
Mr. Salehi, speaking on Tehran television, insisted that the enriched uranium found at the site and another facility at Natanz was not produced in Iran.
Foreign diplomats said last week that IAEA inspectors found minute quantities of weapons-grade uranium at the Kalay-e Electric Co. Earlier this year, UN inspectors found weapons-grade highly enriched uranium particles at a plant in Natanz that is supposed to produce only a lower grade for energy purposes.
Mr. Salehi said Iranian and IAEA officials were surprised that high percentages of enriched uranium had been found at both sites.
It was “unexpected ... because it needs a lot of centrifuges to work for a long time to enrich uranium,” he told the TV station.
“The IAEA and we know that there has been no such level of activity in Iran.”
Iran maintains that traces of the new enriched material were imported on equipment purchased from abroad, but the United States and its allies say it is further of evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons program. Tehran insists that its nuclear program aims only to produce energy.
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