Iran denies nuclear allegations: IAEA
Foreign Desk Report

VIENNA—The U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran has dismissed allegations that it tried to make nuclear weapons, claiming they are baseless.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday there has been some progress on other issues it has been probing.
But it said there was no movement forward on key topics including alleged experiments and research that the United States and others say show Iran was working on trying to develop nuclear arms. Ahead of a crucial report on Iran’s nuclear activities Friday, Washington has given the U.N. nuclear watchdog more information on what it says were Tehran’s attempts to make atomic weapons — but much of it is of doubtful value, diplomats said.
The diplomats also told The Associated Press that after handing over a large file last week to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.S. agreed to let the Iranians look at some of the material so they could respond, but Tehran has so far shown no interest.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is to issue a report Friday outlining the state of his investigation into Iran’s nuclear past, including experiments, materials and documents that could be linked to a weapons program.
The investigation has dragged on for months past its original closing date, and the diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential, said Tehran is hoping it will clear the Islamic Republic of any suggestion that it harbored plans to make nuclear arms.
But ElBaradei will not declare Iran free of such suspicions, said the diplomats, who are connected to the Vienna-based agency. Instead, the confidential report — to be released only to the 35-nation IAEA board and the U.N. Security Council — will at least indirectly conclude that doubt remains over some of Iran’s ultimate nuclear goals, they said.
Among other things, the report will touch on Iran’s continued refusal to clear up suspicions that its military was involved in nuclear research — despite its claims that all atomic work was under civilian control, one diplomat said. The diplomat said Iran refused agency requests to interview an official connected with Iran’s military nuclear program he identified as “Faridzadeh.”
He appeared to be referring to Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi, identified by the U.N. Security Council as a former Iranian military scientist who at the same time was head of a civilian physics research center razed by Tehran before allowing agency inspectors access.
The report also would confirm that Tehran has expanded uranium enrichment by experimenting with a new generation of equipment, instead of heeding U.N. Security Council demands that it freeze the program, which can be used both for making reactor fuel and the fissile payload of nuclear warheads, the diplomats said. A senior U.S. official, who also demanded anonymity, said the report might document some progress on clearing up Iran’s nuclear past — giving additional leverage to Russia and China, which are opposed to harsh action against Tehran.
Still, he said any finding that Iran continued enrichment would doom it to a “third (U.N.) sanctions resolution shortly,” he told the AP. The U.S. is leading the push for new U.N. sanctions, but a recent U.S. intelligence assessment that said Iran stopped working on a clandestine weapons program four years ago has hurt Washington’s attempts to have the U.N. Security Council impose additional penalties.
The newest U.S. nuclear information, including some intelligence declassified for sharing with the agency, was handed over to IAEA Deputy Director Oli Heinonen last Friday, just a few weeks after a first batch of material was forwarded by the Americans, the diplomats said.