Iran has turned over to UN inspectors instructions for assembling a key part of an atomic weapon, a diplomat familiar with a confidential report by the International Atomic Energy Agency says. The diplomat on Friday described it to Reuters as a "cookbook" for making the enriched uranium metal core of an atomic weapon. "Also among the documents was one ... on the casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium into hemispherical forms," the report by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to the IAEA board of governors, seen by Reuters, said. The Iranians told the IAEA they had received the document from individuals linked to the nuclear black market set up by Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan.
Iran stated that the document had been provided on the initiative of nuclear black marketeers, not at its own request, the report said. Although this document shows how to make a vital part of an atomic weapon, there are many other parts it would need in order to produce an entire weapon, the diplomat added. The report said Iran should provide information and documentation on obtaining dual-use equipment and allow visits to various sites, including a site called Lavisan that the US says was used for sensitive nuclear work but which was bulldozed before IAEA inspectors could visit it. |