Iran says it has hidden no nuclear sites from UN

Iran, under renewed pressure to prove it is not seeking an atomic bomb, said on Sunday it had no clandestine nuclear sites hidden from UN in...

Iran, under renewed pressure to prove it is not seeking an atomic bomb, said on Sunday it had no clandestine nuclear sites hidden from UN inspectors. Western diplomats who follow the UN nuclear watchdog said recent intelligence provoked suspicion Tehran had not stopped enriching uranium but moved enrichment activities to smaller sites out of the UN’s view. ‘‘There is no nuclear centre in Iran which we have hidden from inspectors,’’ Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

Iran’s omissions of key atomic technology from an October resolution included undeclared research on advanced ‘‘P2’’ Centrifuges that can make bomb-grade uranium. IAEA Chief Mohamed ElBaradei is due to arrive in Iran on Tuesday for talks. Iran initially blocked IAEA inspectors after last month’s UN resolution but Asefi said a further team of inspectors would arrive in Iran in two weeks.

An internal IAEA report said some inspections in Iran had been ‘‘managed’’ by the Iranians, who refused to let inspectors take pictures or use their own electronic devices. Asefi denied this intrusion.

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Britain, France and Germany recently criticized Iran’s decision to start up a uranium conversion plant in Isfahan. This plant is designed to produce uranium hexafluoride, the gas pumped into centrifuges to produce enriched uranium. Washington hawks are looking to haul Iran before the UN Security Council and impose sanctions for violations of its nuclear commitments. Asefi also denied a report quoting diplomats who said the UN had found traces of bomb-grade uranium at sites in Iran other than the two named.

A Western diplomat said on Friday that UN inspectors had found highly enriched uranium in sites other than the Natanz enrichment centre and a workshop of the Kalaye Electric Company. Reuters

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