Iran: IAEA passing nuclear secrets to J'lem

Iranian lawmaker says "Amano's repeated trips to TA" indicate Iran's nuclear information has been disclosed to Israel.

By JOANNA PARASZCZUK, REUTERS
Ahmadinejad at nuclear ceremony in Tehran 390 (R) (photo credit: REUTERS)
Ahmadinejad at nuclear ceremony in Tehran 390 (R)
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A senior Iranian lawmaker accused the head of the UN nuclear watchdog of passing confidential information about Iran’s nuclear activities to Israel, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
IRNA cited Javad Jahangirzadeh as saying that the International Atomic Energy Agency had not complied with its obligations toward Iran’s nuclear data, and had committed an offense by providing information to Iran’s enemies.
In the latest sign of strained relations with the IAEA, Jahangirzadeh, a member of both the Iranian parliament’s presiding board of the parliament for Oromieh, said the director general of the IAEA, Yukiya Amano would be to blame if Iran reduced its ties with the body, according to the report.
“Amano’s repeated trips to Tel Aviv and asking the Israeli officials’ views about Iran’s nuclear activities indicates that Iran’s nuclear information has been disclosed to the Zionist regime and other enemies of the Islamic Republic,” Jahangirzadeh was quoted as saying in an exclusive interview with IRNA.
“If the agency’s actions lead to Iran cutting cooperation with this international body, all responsibility will be with the IAEA director general,” said Jahangirzadeh, adding that the IAEA had not cooperated with Iran regarding its nuclear activities.
“Rather, there have been cases where the agency’s inspectors visiting Iran’s nuclear facilities have spied on behalf of Tel Aviv and Washington,” he added.
The IAEA was not immediately available to comment on Jahangirzadeh’s allegation.
Last week, Iranian nuclear energy chief Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani said terrorists might have infiltrated the Vienna-based agency.
He suggested the IAEA included too much sensitive information about Iran’s nuclear program in its reports that he said could be used by saboteurs.
Western diplomats dismissed Abbasi-Davani’s allegations as an attempt to distract attention from the agency’s bid to gain access to a site in Iran it suspects was used for nuclear weapons research.
Iran blames Israel and its Western allies for the assassination of nuclear scientists in Iran, including an unsuccessful attempt on Abbasi- Davani in November 2010. It also blames them for computer viruses that appeared designed to damage Iran’s nuclear machinery.
The 35-nation board of the agency censured Iran earlier this month for defying international demands to curb uranium enrichment and failing to address mounting disquiet about its suspected research into atomic bombs.
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The resolution prompted the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Ali Larijani, to cast doubt on the benefit of Iran’s membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in an interview last week with the Financial Times.
Sunday’s edition of Iran’s government-affiliated Keyhan daily remarked on the interview, in which Larijani said that there is a “serious discussion among Iran’s intellectuals about the benefits [of being a signatory to the NPT].”
“The Israelis did not join the NPT and they do not recognize the IAEA. They are doing what they want, producing atomic bombs, and no one questions it. But countries that observe its regulations face a lot of pressure.
So it is logical to ask whether anyone is motivated to join the IAEA,” Larijani said.
The commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, told a news conference last week that Tehran would withdraw from the NPT if attacked by Israel – which has increased hints it may launch air strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Iran’s parliament does not decide matters of foreign policy and national security, which are the province of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Also on Sunday, Germany’s Siemens AG denied allegations by an Iranian lawmaker that it planted explosives in equipment sold to Iran for use in its nuclear program.
“Siemens does not have any business ties with Iran’s nuclear program and does not supply any technical equipment for it,” a spokesman for the Munich-based multinational company said.
Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, said on Saturday that intelligence and security officials had detected explosive material inside devices supplied for Iran’s nuclear activities.
“It was planned that these devices would explode once used and damage all of our systems, but in the end with the knowledge of our experts, this enemy conspiracy was foiled,” Boroujerdi was quoted as saying by ICANA, Iran’s parliamentary news agency.
“The Siemens company must be held accountable for its actions,” he said.
Such an “enemy conspiracy” would have had to be plotted and acted on before early 1979, the time of the Islamic Revolution.
The German Kraftwerk Union AG, a joint venture between Siemens and AEG Telefunken, began construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant in 1975, after signing a $4 billion-6b. contract.
However, work stopped on the plant in January 1979 and Kraftwerk pulled out of the project in July that year, two months after Iranians voted to become an Islamic Republic. One reactor was left half-complete and the other around 85 percent finished.
In 1995, Russia’s Atomic Energy ministry signed a contract to complete the work and last month Russian contractor Atomstroyexport announced the first power unit was operating at 100 percent capacity.
Meanwhile also on Sunday, the UK’s Sunday Times reported that the Revolutionary Guards discovered an “electronic monitoring device” near the Fordow nuclear site in northern Iran last month.
Citing unnamed Western intelligence sources, the Sunday Times said the Revolutionary Guards did not report the discovery. The Jerusalem Post could not independently verify the report.
Iran has previously accused Israel and Western governments of trying to sabotage its atomic program by assassinating nuclear scientists and planting computer viruses.