Head of Iran's Nuclear Program: Iran Has Nothing to Hide - 2003-05-08

The head of Iran's nuclear program has once again denied the accusations made by Washington against Tehran, claiming that the Iranian regime is executing a clandestine nuclear program to produce nuclear weapons. Today, at the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, Austria, he stated that Iran has nothing to hide and that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes. However, according to a report from the New York Times today, U.S. officials are concerned about Iran's diligent activities in pursuing its secret nuclear weapons program. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department stated that Washington believes Iran is actively pursuing an ambitious nuclear program that it has not disclosed and is deliberately hiding from inspectors. The spokesperson added that the Iranian government claims transparency without actually having any transparency in its operations. The New York Times quoted an unnamed U.S. official stating that Washington is pressuring the IAEA to declare that Iran has violated the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), of which Iran is also a signatory. The Iranian regime insists that its nuclear program is entirely for peaceful purposes. However, U.S. officials claim that a recent IAEA assessment of the Natanz nuclear facility in central Iran and information obtained by other intelligence agencies have convinced them that the Natanz facility is specifically for nuclear weapons. The New York Times adds that until last year, no one was aware of the existence of the Natanz nuclear facility. A U.S. government official told the New York Times that the underground buildings of the Natanz facility contain centrifuges for enriching uranium, which is used to produce atomic bombs. This official stated that the U.S. government was surprised to learn that Iran has so far constructed one hundred centrifuges at the Natanz nuclear facility and is preparing to build more of the same devices. Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the IAEA, visited Iran earlier this year at the head of an inspection team and is expected to submit a report next month on whether Iran has complied with the NPT. The U.S. State Department says it is awaiting Dr. ElBaradei's detailed report on the results of his visit to Iran, but it is still too early to comment on the evidence collected by the agency's inspectors.