China Aiding Iran on A-Weapons, U.S. Says

The government of China has provided Iran with critical equipment that it needs to pursue a secret nuclear weapons program similar in key respects to the ambitious effort launched by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, a Bush Administration official said Tuesday.

Although the Iranian weapons venture is not believed to be nearly as advanced as the Iraqi program, which has been documented in recent weeks by international arms inspectors, U.S. officials fear that Tehran’s goal is essentially the same as Baghdad’s.

“Iran’s nuclear program is at a very primitive stage but it’s cooking,” said the Administration official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Iraq was moving down the road to almost sure success, and Iran can look to that as an example.”

Disclosure of China’s role in facilitating the Iranian program comes at an extraordinarily sensitive point as the United States and the Soviet Union open the long-awaited Middle East peace conference in Madrid.

U.S. officials believe that Iran launched its weapons program to increase its influence within the volatile region and that the effort has become even more aggressive in response to disclosures about the extent of Iraq’s program.

Washington has been aware for some time that Iran was developing nuclear reactor technology that could be put to use in a weapons program. But it learned only recently that China had supplied Iran with “calutron” equipment needed to enrich uranium for use in nuclear bombs, the U.S. official said.

He did not specify the number of calutrons involved or when they were acquired by the government in Tehran.

The official said that the Pentagon has tried to persuade the State Department to pressure China to stop the equipment sales to Iran. But Secretary of State James A. Baker III has balked, he said, and some Pentagon officials believe that stopping Tehran’s nuclear program has taken a back seat to making sure that the Middle East peace conference comes off smoothly.

“Baker could be putting pressure on the Chinese, but he doesn’t want to upset the Mideast peace process,” the official said.