IRAN - June 1 - More Possibly Bomb-Grade Uranium Found.

The IAEA says it has found more traces in Iran of highly enriched uranium that could be bomb-grade. Tehran has also admitted to importing parts for sophisticated P-2 centrifuges, which can enrich uranium to bomb-grade levels, going back on claims that it had made the parts domestically, according to a confidential report by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei  reported by AFP. While Tehran has insisted its P-2 is a research programme, the IAEA says Iran had asked through a European intermediary about the possibility of buying 4,000 special magnets, or enough for 2,000 centrifuges. Nuclear expert David Albright is quoted by AFP as saying from Washington that Iran's "centrifuge story just doesn't hold up". He said the numbers made it look like Iran, rather than doing research, was seeking "to go into serial production". Highly enriched uranium (HEU) can be nuclear fuel or the explosive in an atom bomb. (Particles of 36% HEU found at Farayand, a new site after IAEA inspectors had last year detected such particles at the Kalaye Electric Company in Tehran, leave the IAEA unable to confirm Iran's claims the contamination was from imported equipment, probably from Pakistan, rather than a sign the Iranians may have been trying to enrich uranium on their own). The FT on June 2 quoted a "Western diplomat close to the IAEA" as saying: "This means they're probably lying about the origin of that 36 percent enriched uranium. Obviously they either imported the enriched uranium from abroad or it originated in their own enrichment".

The FT said the diplomat was mentioning that the HEU might be from a Russian research reactor. The US has renewed accusations that Iran is secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons after the IAEA revelations. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington's view was "borne out by the facts". The IAEA said ahead of a June 14 meeting of its 35-nation board of governors that Iran must clear up these questions about uranium contamination and centrifuges if the international community is to believe Tehran claims its nuclear programme is strictly peaceful. (The US has called for the IAEA, which has been investigating the Iranian programme since February 2003 after being alerted to it in August 2002, to refer the Islamic Republic to the UN Security Council for possible international sanctions. But ElBaradei told a NATO meeting in the Slovak capital Bratislava on June 1 "the jury is still out" on Iran's nuclear programme. He said there was at this time "no evidence that the Iranian program has some military dimension".

The IAEA will not be able to reach a decision on Iran on June 14 since Tehran has delayed inspections and only last month submitted a report on its programme which the agency will need months to evaluate. ElBaradei's report praises the Iranians for "cooperating in providing access to locations in response to agency requests, including workshops situated at military sites". But the report also says three workshops in Iran are continuing to produce centrifuge components despite Tehran's claim that it has suspended uranium enrichment and related activities. Tehran said it suspended production of centrifuge components as of April 9 as a confidence-building measure with the international community. But Iran is determined to resume production of uranium hexafluoride - UF6 -, a feed material for enriching uranium, the report said. Albright said: "The Iranians don't seem to be taking suspension seriously". Tehran had agreed to the suspension last October in striking an agreement on co-operation with the European big three - Britain, France and Germany. Albright said if Iran "continues to embarrass" these countries by hiding aspects of its programme, Tehran may lose their support, and perhaps by December be taken to the Security Council by the IAEA board.