Americans may need to prepare for another round of “weaponsof mass destruction” searches as U.S. officials releasealleged satellite photographs of a suspected nuclear industrialsite in Iran where experts believe atomic weapons are beingdeveloped.
David Albright, head of the Institute forScience and International Security, told reporters Wednesday thatthe images led him to believe the Parchin military complex insoutheast of Tehran may be a research, production and testing sitefor nuclear weapons although Iran continues to deny theseallegations.
“This is a new lie, like the last 13based on news reports that have been proved to be lies,”Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s chief delegate to the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA) board meeting to Reuters.
Following the Wednesday meeting of the IAEA inVienna, which has become the point of mediation between Iran andthe United States, Iranian officials accused the United States andEurope of attempting to paralyze their nuclear developmentefforts.
“Americans and Europeans follow the sameobjective: denying Iran mastery over nuclear technology,”Hashemi Rafsanjani, the closet figure to Iran’s Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei.
Albright, an international expert also accusedthe International Atomic Energy Agency of concealing importantfacts about Parchin in its latest report, a charge that the agencydenies. He adds that the IAEA was ignored when requests weremade to inspect Parchin. Top Iranian officials however,charge that this claim is intended to influence the nuclear programresolution discussed in Vienna.
Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA chief, stands on bothsides of the fence this week. Although he was convincedIran’s activities were questionable, he did believe there was nohard evidence to prove that the country was using its program tobuild weapons of mass destruction.
The Bush Administration is moving for the U.N.Security Council to become involved as U.S. officials accuse Iranof violating the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which setslimits on the use, trade, and production on nuclear weapons.
Tension between the two countries stems backto the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Bush administration hascharacterized Iran as a contributor to the “axis ofevil.”
