Iran Papers Reveal 'uranium Warhead Instructions'

UN nuclear inspectors have taken possession of Iranian papers appearing to describe how to shape weapons-grade uranium into a warhead, it was claimed today.

A report from the Associated Press, quoting diplomatic sources, said the one-and-a-half-page document was given to inspectors when Iran was presented with US intelligence suggesting it was working on nuclear weapons and was asked for a response.

The diplomats suggested the document - given to Iran by a nuclear black market network - was handed over to demonstrate cooperation as international pressure mounted over Iran’s recent resumption of uranium enrichment research.

That pressure increased today when Russia and China joined US and European efforts to refer Iran to the UN Security Council. A London meeting of foreign ministers from the council’s five permanent members - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - agreed to consider a report in March from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Tehran’s activities.

Ali Larijani, Iran’s senior nuclear negotiator, said such a move would put an end to efforts to resolve the crisis peacefully. "Reporting Iran’s dossier to the UN security council will be unconstructive and the end of diplomacy," he said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran doesn’t welcome this. We still think that this issue can be resolved peacefully. We recommend them not to do it."

The five also recommended that the IAEA’s 35-member board refer Iran to the Security Council when it holds an emergency meeting in Vienna on Thursday.

But the agreement to wait for the report means the Security Council will wait until March before deciding what action to take.

Iran, which has threatened to end cooperation with the IAEA if it is brought before the Security Council, said there was no legal justification to refer the report to the council. The vice-president and head of the country’s nuclear program, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said it was not certain the IAEA board would even follow the lead of the permanent Security Council members.

"The biggest problem for the west is that they can’t find any [legal] justification to refer Iran to the UN Security Council," he said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

International concern over Iran’s nuclear program intensified earlier this month when Britain, France and Germany - who were negotiating with Iran on behalf of the EU - said the breaking of IAEA seals on three research facilities against their express wishes meant talks were at a "dead end".

Diplomats from the three countries yesterday met with Iran to see if there was any scope for talks to resume. The British representative, John Sawer, last night said "we didn’t detect anything new in their approach".

The crisis centers on whether Iran can take control of a nuclear fuel cycle that could allow it to enrich uranium to weapons grade. Iran claims it has a right under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty to process fuel for civilian purposes, but the US and EU suspect that Iran’s history of concealing nuclear activities from the IAEA mean it would use civilian reactors as cover for a military program.

One hope was that Tehran would accept a Russian proposal for it to enrich uranium for Iran and audit the fuel going in and out of the country, but Iranian officials have said it is unlikely to be accepted.

Russia and China - which have greater economic ties to Iran - are still attempting to find a negotiated settlement to the crisis despite their support for a security council referral that could lead to sanctions.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, today announced that Russian and Chinese diplomats are to be dispatched to Iran in an attempt to convince it to cooperate with the IAEA.

"I expect representatives of the leadership of the Russian foreign ministry with Chinese colleagues to visit Tehran to explain the agreements adopted in London and to urge Iran to give precise answers to the questions that the IAEA has presented," he said.

The decision by Russia and China to vote for referral surprised observers as they have consistently advocated caution. A French government official told the Associated Press that the Russian and Chinese ministers had been persuaded of the need to show a united front.