Iran Nuke Weapons Documents-Fabricated?
MrBrian
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Documents linking Iran to nuclear weapons push may have been fabricated
Gareth Porter
Published: Monday November 10, 2008
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.
The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.
The new evidence of possible fraud has increased pressure within the IAEA secretariat to distance the agency from the laptop documents, according to a Vienna-based diplomatic source close to the IAEA, who spoke to RAW STORY on condition of anonymity.
The laptop documents include what the IAEA has described in a published report as technical drawings of efforts to redesign the nosecone of the Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missile “to accommodate a nuclear warhead.” The documents are also said to include studies on the use of a high explosive detonation system, drawings of a shaft apparently to be used for nuclear tests, and studies on a bench-scale uranium conversion facility.
These technical papers, along with some correspondence related to the alleged secret Iranian program -- referred to by the IAEA as “alleged studies” -- have been the primary basis during 2008 for the insistence by the US-led international coalition pushing for sanctions against Iran that the Iranian case must be kept going in the United Nations Security Council.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/IAEA_suspects_fraud_in_evidence_for_1109.html
Gareth Porter
Published: Monday November 10, 2008
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has obtained evidence suggesting that documents which have been described as technical studies for a secret Iranian nuclear weapons-related research program may have been fabricated.
The documents in question were acquired by U.S. intelligence in 2004 from a still unknown source -- most of them in the form of electronic files allegedly stolen from a laptop computer belonging to an Iranian researcher. The US has based much of its push for sanctions against Iran on these documents.
The new evidence of possible fraud has increased pressure within the IAEA secretariat to distance the agency from the laptop documents, according to a Vienna-based diplomatic source close to the IAEA, who spoke to RAW STORY on condition of anonymity.
The laptop documents include what the IAEA has described in a published report as technical drawings of efforts to redesign the nosecone of the Iranian Shahab-3 ballistic missile “to accommodate a nuclear warhead.” The documents are also said to include studies on the use of a high explosive detonation system, drawings of a shaft apparently to be used for nuclear tests, and studies on a bench-scale uranium conversion facility.
These technical papers, along with some correspondence related to the alleged secret Iranian program -- referred to by the IAEA as “alleged studies” -- have been the primary basis during 2008 for the insistence by the US-led international coalition pushing for sanctions against Iran that the Iranian case must be kept going in the United Nations Security Council.
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/IAEA_suspects_fraud_in_evidence_for_1109.html
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And there was some cause for hope: Obama spent much of the presidential primaries chiding the Bush Administration for avoiding direct talks with Iran, and cautioned against talking about launching attacks on Iran.
But any hopes for major changes in the American stance toward Iran died pretty quickly when Obama publicly condemned the Iranian government, accusing them of developing a nuclear weapon and vowing an international effort against them, which he would not elaborate on until he takes over the White House in January.
The condemnation has sown pessimism in Iran, and has cost President Ahmadinejad politically as he has come under public attack, oddly from the same reformist faction that has long called for reconciliation with the US, for overstepping his station in offering a hand to the incoming US administration. Its a limb on which the Iranian President is unlikely to go out again
Obama called on Friday for an international effort to stop Iran developing a nuclear bomb, saying it was "unacceptable."
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi repeated Tehran's official position that nuclear weapons had no place in the Islamic Republic's defense doctrine.
"We need a change in the erroneous impressions of the United States," he told a news conference, broadcast and translated by Iran's English-language Press TV station. "It is very clear that Iran does not ... possess nuclear weapons."
Iran says its nuclear plans are to make electricity so it can export more oil and gas. But its refusal to halt sensitive work has drawn three sets of U.N. sanctions and U.S. measures.
Washington severed diplomatic ties with Iran shortly after its 1979 Islamic revolution and is spearheading the drive to isolate Tehran over its nuclear activities.
Iranian officials have said Obama's victory showed Americans wanted a fundamental change from the policies of President George W. Bush, who branded Iran part of an "axis of evil."
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad last week congratulated Obama, who has said he would harden sanctions on Iran but has also held out the possibility of direct talks.