Vienna, September 05: A senior Iranian official has accused the United States of feeding “forged” intelligence to the U.N. nuclear watchdog that says Iran had studied ways to make atomic bombs.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has lent some weight to Western intelligence reports which imply Tehran secretly combined uranium processing, airborne high-explosive tests and work to remodel a missile cone in a way that would fit a nuclear warhead.
While the IAEA has said it does not have concrete proof of a weapons agenda, it urged Tehran in an Aug. 28 report to resolve the suspicions rather than dismiss information as a fabrication.
But Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh told the IAEA in a letter seen by Reuters that the agency had not provided genuine documents on the alleged studies and the matter was “closed.”
“The government of the United States has not handed over original documents to the agency since it does not in fact have any authenticated document and all it has are forged documents,” Soltanieh wrote in a letter to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
“The alleged studies are politically motivated and baseless allegations.”
Western powers suspect Tehran of pursuing the means to produce atomic bombs under cover of a civilian nuclear fuel programme, a charge which Iran denies.
The U.S. State Department declined to comment directly on Soltenieh’s letter. Spokesman Ian Kelly said Iran had yet to give a meaningful response to offers for talks.
“We have provided a path whereby Iran can become a full and respected member of the international community. It is up to Iran to make a decision as to whether it chooses that path.”
—Agencies