Iran says uranium find is innocent

Iran acknowledged today that traces of highly enriched uranium have been found at a second site in the country, but insisted the source was contaminated equipment purchased from another country.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said enriched nuclear uranium has been found at the Kalay-e Electric Company, just west of Tehran.

He ruled out that the enriched uranium found at the site and another facility at Natanz was produced in Iran.

Foreign diplomats said last week that IAEA inspectors found minute quantities of weapons-grade uranium at the Kalay-e site.

Earlier this year, UN inspectors found weapons-grade highly enriched uranium particles at a plant in Natanz that is supposed to produce only a lower grade for energy purposes.

Salehi said Iranian and IAEA officials were surprised that high percentages of enriched uranium had been found at both sites.

It was “unexpected because it needs a lot of centrifuges to work for a long time to enrich uranium,” he said.

“The IAEA and we know that there has been no such level of activity in Iran.”

Iran maintains that traces of the new enriched material were imported on equipment purchased from abroad, but America and its allies say it is further of evidence of an Iranian nuclear weapons programme.