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IAEA Finds Weapons-Grade Uranium Traces in Tehran

International Christian Embassy Jerusalem, 11 Dec 2007

A new round of talks between UN and Iranian officials began on Monday mainly to investigate traces of weapons-grade uranium recently found in a university in Tehran. The talks follow the recent assessment from US intelligence which concluded that Iran froze its nuclear arms program in 2003, as well as the finding by IAEA chief Mohammad ElBaradei that Iran has been largely transparent about its nuclear program.

The IAEA first found traces of weapons-grade uranium in 2003 in Tehran, but Iran defended itself by saying that the traces were from imported equipment. This was confirmed by the IAEA in 2005, when the IAEA corroborated the Iranian claim, saying that the uranium traces were indeed from imported centrifuge parts from Pakistan. However, there newfound uranium traces that have yet to be explained.

Meanwhile, visiting Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen reassured Israeli leaders on Monday that Washington remains seriously concerned about the issue of Iran, maintaining that the Islamic Republic is still perceived as a threat in the region as long as they continue to pursue enriching uranium.

For their part, senior Israeli officials sought to convince the American military chief that the US intelligence community is being too optimistic. Israel contends the new intelligence estimate focuses too narrowly on the last stage of weapons development -- which is fashioning a bomb from highly enriched uranium, according to The New York Times.

Israeli intelligence agrees Iran probably stopped its nuclear weapons program for a time in 2003, after the American invasion of Iraq, but then resumed certain key activities in 2005, mainly by accelerating uranium enrichment and making advances in developing ballistic missiles. They also have built a 40-megawatt heavy-water reactor in Arak that could produce plutonium. Thus Israel believes Iran continues to work on all phases of building a nuclear bomb.

Meantime in a meeting with Israeli opposition leader MK Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud), French President Nicholas Sarkozy assured him that France is committed to do "everything possible to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons."