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Friday, November 19, 2004
Iran Using Lasers to Enrich Uranium - Exile Group
November 19, 2004
Reuters
Jon Boyle
PARIS -- An Iranian exile group accused Tehran on Friday of using advanced laser technology to secretly enrich uranium and of lying to the United Nations nuclear watchdog body about the covert program.
The opposition group, which has given accurate information before and made other accusations on Wednesday, said Iran was making bomb-grade uranium at the Lavizan facility in Tehran it disclosed two days ago, and at Parchin, 30 km from the capital.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said Iran was also seeking to develop a warhead to put on its medium-range Shahab-3 and Shahab-4 missiles, a development outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell warned of on Wednesday.
Iran promised the European Union on Sunday that it would freeze its uranium enrichment program, a move which spared it a referral to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.
It dismissed Wednesday's accusations as a "well-timed lie."
NCRI's Mohamad Mohaddesin said the West was being duped by Tehran and urged the United Nations to act now in order to foil Tehran's bid to build a nuclear bomb in 2005.
"In recent months, the Iranian regime officially declared to the IAEA (the U.N. nuclear watchdog) that it has shut down its laser enrichment program," Mohaddesin told a news conference in Paris where it has a large base.
"This is a completely false declaration by the Iranian regime ... They are using this laser technology in at least two military sites, maybe more."
He said Lavizan, a former munitions factory, switched to uranium enrichment about 18 months ago using laser equipment. A military complex at Parchin had been conducting similar work since 2000, he said.
Mohaddesin, who used commercial satellite photographs to support its case involving the two sites, said that the Iranian authorities had stepped up security around the Lavizan site since its revelations.
On Wednesday, NCRI said Iran had obtained weapons-grade uranium and a nuclear bomb design from a Pakistani scientist who has admitted selling nuclear secrets abroad.
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