IAEA reveals past secret Iran nuclear activities
VIENNA—Iran carried out secret nuclear activities with material not declared to the UN nuclear watchdog and performed “tests” related to initiating an explosion in a nuclear weapon, a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said.
The “comprehensive” report provided to the IAEA’s 35-nation Board of Governors pave the way for a push by the United States, Britain, France and Germany for the agency to declare Iran in violation of its nonproliferation obligations.
The watchdog report said that the secret nuclear activities were done at three locations that have long been under investigation.
The document seen by Reuters said that “these three locations, and other possible related locations, were part of an undeclared structured nuclear program carried out by Iran until the early 2000s and that some activities used undeclared nuclear material.”
Nuclear material and/or heavily contaminated equipment from that program was stored at the fourth site, Turquzabad, between 2009 and 2018, it said.
Uranium disc
“The Agency concludes that Iran did not declare nuclear material and nuclear-related activities at three undeclared locations in Iran, specifically, Lavisan-Shian, Varamin and Turquzabad,” the report said.
At Lavisan-Shian in Tehran, a disc made of uranium metal was “used in the production of explosively-driven neutron sources” at least twice in 2003, a process designed to initiate the explosion in a nuclear weapon, the report said, adding that it was part of “small-scale” tests.
Using the IAEA report’s findings, the four Western powers plan to submit a draft resolution for the board to adopt at its next meeting the week of June 9, diplomats say.
Iran’s foreign ministry and the Iranian nuclear agency rejected the report, calling it “politically motivated.”
They said Tehran will take “appropriate measures” in response to any effort to take action against the country at the Board of Governors meeting, state media reported.
Tehran says it wants to master nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and denies accusations be Western powers that it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.
