Iran testing nuclear weapons, claims opposition

Ahead of a key trip to Teheran by the chief of the UN atomic watchdog agency, an Iranian opposition group said it had evidence of a new secret site used by Teheran to test equipment for a nuclear weapons programme.

Iran is facing an October 31 deadline to essentially disprove it has plans to make nuclear weaponry, and Mohamed El Baradei, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will fly to Teheran tomorrow to appeal for more cooperation.

If the IAEA board of governors finds in November that Iran has not answered all outstanding questions by October 31, the issue could be taken to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions.

Iran has twice confirmed over the past few months that particles of weapons-grade uranium had been found in separate places in the country.

The government said the particles came from imported nuclear equipment that had been contaminated and asserts its nuclear programs only generate electricity.

The National Council of Resistance in Iran said informers inside Iran had confirmed the existence of a “new secret nuclear site,” about 10 miles east of Isfahan.

The group said their organisation had gathered evidence of clandestine research and uranium enrichment facilities on the 370,650-acre site.

Among other things, centrifuges used to enrich uranium were tested there, they said.