Iraq Hands Over New Information on Nuclear Program

The government of President Saddam Hussein on Sunday delivered new information on its secret nuclear weapons research program in response to demands from the U.N. inspection team here.

But on Sunday night, Dmitri Perricos, the head of the inspection team, declined to say whether the new Iraqi information would satisfy U.N. Security Council demands and head off threatened air attacks on suspected Iraqi nuclear installations.

“It is not to be satisfied or not satisfied,” Perricos said in comments to reporters. “We asked for information; the information was given. Now it has to be seen and evaluated. I cannot make a judgment on it at this point.”

Iraq delivered the latest information on its clandestine nuclear activities one week after it disclosed--under U.S. and U.N. pressure--that it had secretly carried out extensive attempts to enrich uranium, in violation of its obligations as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The U.N. Security Council last week gave Iraq until July 25 to show all its nuclear equipment to the inspection team so that it can be destroyed in accordance with the Security Council resolution that ended the Persian Gulf War.

If Iraq refuses to fully disclose all of its facilities, the Security Council has threatened possible attacks on Iraqi military facilities.

The 37-member U.N. inspection team, the third group sent by the world body to seek out Iraq’s nuclear facilities, will continue its work here until Friday.

Perricos said that the team has inspected seven out of eight nuclear sites disclosed on earlier Iraqi lists, but he declined to say if the new information, which he termed a “clarification,” contained new locations for inspection.