Iran tests atomic parts despite freeze

Iran has been testing parts for machines that could be used to develop nuclear weapons, despite a promise to temporarily refrain from all such activities, Western diplomats said yesterday.

Several Western diplomat who follow the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) told Reuters on condition of anonymity Iran was performing quality control checks of "non-essential items" for centrifuges, machines that purify uranium to make fuel for nuclear power plants or weapons.

"If they would act in good faith, there would be a complete standstill of every activity that relates to centrifuges," one diplomat said. This may be a breach of Iran's pledge to freeze all activities related to uranium enrichment, he added.

Tehran promised France, Britain and Germany in November it would refrain from all activities related to uranium enrichment and plutonium reprocessing for the duration of talks between the EU's "big three" and Iran, talks aimed at hammering out a permanent resolution to the standoff over Iran's atomic plans.

US President George W. Bush on Wednesday renewed his accusation that Iran was seeking to develop atomic weapons and called it the "world's primary state sponsor of terror".

Iran's Supreme Leader yesterday hit back at Mr Bush and said he would fail like his four predecessors to topple Tehran's clerical leadership.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran, because of defending the rights of the oppressed and confronting oppressors, is being attacked by the global tyrants," state media quoted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying.

Tehran says its atomic ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity.

One diplomat said it would be wrong to play down the significance of the tests simply because the parts were being described as "non-essential".

"All the parts are needed to make the machines work, both essential and non-essential," he said. Western diplomats said the United States would view any testing of centrifuge parts as a violation of Iran's commitment to freeze all enrichment-related work - and as further evidence of what it believes are Iranian nuclear bomb plans.

One diplomat said non-essential components "would mean the nuts and bolts and screws that hold the rotor on, as opposed to the rotor itself". Rotors are key parts of centrifuges, which purify uranium by spinning at supersonic speeds.

Diplomats said Iran had moved the parts out of the Natanz enrichment plant, which is closely monitored by the IAEA, to a site called Farayand Technique, also involved in Iran's previously undeclared enrichment programme.

Separately, a group of Iranian exiles that has accurately reported on Iran's nuclear programme in the past said in Paris Tehran had successfully tested "neutron initiators" that spark the chain reaction in atomic weapons by combining beryllium metal with polonium-210.

It was unclear how the centrifuge report and the exiles' latest allegation would affect the next round of EU3-Iran talks, which begins in Geneva on Monday. But diplomats said the Europeans would be unhappy with what they would see as another example of Iranian nuclear brinkmanship.

Recently Iranian officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the EU3, accusing it of failing to deliver on its promise of economic and political benefits while pressuring Iran to give up uranium enrichment permanently - an activity Iran views as a sovereign right.

Diplomats said the component testing may be part of an attempt to pressure the Europeans into making concessions.

"Iran is clearly putting pressure on the EU3 to force them to put some offers on the table," a diplomat said.

Iran first promised the EU3 it would suspend enrichment work in October 2003, but the deal fell apart after Tehran continued to build and test centrifuge components.

The EU yesterday welcomed comments by Bush on Wednesday that Washington was working with its European allies on Iran.