Tests Raise Concerns Over Iran

U.N. inspectors have found traces of highly enriched uranium on equipment from an Iranian research center linked to the military, diplomats said Friday -- a revelation likely to strengthen U.S. arguments that Tehran wants to develop nuclear arms.

The diplomats, who demanded anonymity, cautioned that other tests were being conducted to confirm the results.

They said the density of enrichment appeared to be close to or above the level used to make nuclear warheads. But later a diplomat accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency said it was below that, although higher than the low-enriched material used to generate electricity.

The diplomats said further analysis could show that the traces match others found to have come from abroad. Earlier, the IAEA had found traces of highly enriched uranium, but determined they were from equipment Iran bought from Pakistan on the black market during nearly two decades of clandestine activity.

One of the diplomats said the new samples came from vacuum pumps that have various applications, including use in uranium-enriching centrifuges at a former research center at Lavisan-Shian. The center is believed to have been the repository of equipment bought by the Iranian military that could be used in a nuclear weapons program.

The State Department said in 2004 that Lavisan’s buildings had been dismantled and alleged that topsoil had been removed to hide nuclear weapons-related experiments. The IAEA later confirmed that the site had been razed.

In an April 28 report, IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said the agency took samples from some of the equipment of the former Physics Research Center at Lavisan-Shian.

Because Iran has previously denied conducting enrichment-related activities at the site, the mere fact the traces came from there bolsters arguments that it has hidden activities that could be used to build a nuclear bomb. Additionally, the site’s connection to the military weakens Iranian arguments that its nuclear program is purely civilian.

Iran denies it wants to make nuclear arms and says it is interested in uranium only to generate power.