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Iran’s covert nuclear import
Iran is close to clinching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tonnes of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press.
Iran is close to clinching a deal to clandestinely import 1,350 tonnes of purified uranium ore from Kazakhstan, according to an intelligence report obtained by The Associated Press.
The assessment is heightening international concern about Tehran’s nuclear activities, diplomats said.
Such a deal would be significant because, according to an independent research group, Tehran appears to be running out of the material, which it needs to feed its uranium enrichment program.
Kazakh Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashikbayev denied his government was involved, saying that the ex-Soviet nation has fully observed its international obligations. “All Kazakhstan’s activities in the uranium sphere have been under the IAEA control,” he told the AP.
A spokesman for Kazatomprom, the Kazakh state uranium company, also denied involvement.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York described the report as “a fabrication and completely baseless,” in a statement faxed to the AP in Tehran.
The report was drawn up by a member nation of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
