U.S.: Iran 'Cynically' Pursuing Nukes

Andrea Dudikova, The Associated Press:

The United States accused Iran on Wednesday of "cynically" pursuing nuclear weapons, saying Tehran's claims that its aims are peaceful constitute willful deceit of the world.

The comments by Jackie Sanders, chief U.S. delegate to the International Atomic Energy Agency board of governors, were in response to an IAEA update on Iran's nuclear record after more than two years of examination by the agency.

Sanders characterized Tuesday's IAEA report as a "startling list of Iranian attempts to hide and mislead and delay the work" of agency experts probing the country's nuclear activities.

"The IAEA is still not able to provide assurances that Iran is not pursuing clandestine activities at undeclared locations," Sanders said. Tehran, she said, was guilty of "cynically" manipulating the Nonproliferation Treaty and related programs "in the pursuit of nuclear weapons."

The IAEA review noted that while Iran allowed inspectors an initial visit to the Parchin military complex in mid-January, the experts' visits were limited to one site and only five buildings on that site. A new request to revisit another part of the site was refused by Iran on Sunday, he added.

The United States alleges Iran may be testing high-explosive components for nuclear weapons by using an inert core of depleted uranium at Parchin as a dry run for a bomb that would use fissile material.

Iran asserts its military is not involved in nuclear activities, and the IAEA has found no firm evidence to the contrary. The agency also has not been able to support U.S. assertions that nearly two decades of covert nuclear programs discovered more than two years ago were aimed at making nuclear weapons - not generating electricity, as Tehran claims.

A separate Iranian decision outlined in the review - to block any further probing of possible dual use equipment at the Lavizan-Shian site near Tehran - appeared particularly galling to the IAEA because it effectively shut down one area of the agency's inquiry.

The State Department last year said Lavizan-Shian's buildings had been completely dismantled and that top soil had been removed from the site in attempts to hide nuclear weapons-related experiments.

The review also revealed that Iran continues to build a heavy water reactor in the city of Arak that can produce plutonium despite agency requests to cease construction on the facility.

It also noted delays by Iran in informing the agency that it was building tunnels in the central city of Isfahan for nuclear storage and blips in its commitment to totally freeze all activities related to uranium enrichment. ...

Sanders said Wednesday that nothing short of "full cessation and dismantling" of enrichment activities "can give us any confidence" Iran is no longer producing nuclear weapons.

But Iran insists on its right to enrichment.

"This is something that is not on the table and will not be on the table," senior Iranian envoy Sirius Nasseri told reporters, saying his country had "gone through blood and sweat and tears" to develop the program. ...