US gives IAEA information on Teheran's attempts to make nuclear weapons

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
For the second time in recent weeks, Washington has given the International Atomic Energy Agency information on what it says were Teheran's attempts to make nuclear weapons, but much of it is of doubtful value, diplomats said Thursday. The diplomats also told The Associated Press that after handing over a large file last Friday, the US agreed to allow the Iranians to look at some of the material so they could respond to the allegations but Teheran has shown no interest in examining the information. The diplomats spoke on the eve of a crucial report from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei that will outline the state of his probe into the Islamic Republic's nuclear past, including experiments, materials and documents that could be linked to a weapons program. The probe has dragged on for months past its original closing date, and the diplomats said Teheran was hoping that it would clear the Islamic Republic of any suggestion that it harbored plans to make nuclear arms. But the diplomats, all connected to the Vienna-based agency, said ElBaradei would not declare Iran free of such suspicions. Instead, the confidential report, to be released only to the 35-nation IAEA board and the U.N. Security Council, would at least indirectly conclude that doubt continued over Iran's ultimate nuclear goals.