Iran says it has no secret nuclear activities
Iran denied an exiled opposition group's allegations it was secretly seeking material to build an atomic bomb, a senior official said on Thursday.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said on Wednesday Iran obtained weapons-grade uranium and a nuclear bomb design from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb.
Hossein Mousavian, foreign policy committee secretary at Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said that was a lie."It is a well-timed lie as well. The group wants to make another fuss ahead of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) board meeting on November 25," Mousavian told Reuters. "They want to poison the board's atmosphere."
Since 2002, the NCRI has given accurate tip-offs about nuclear plants which Iran later declared to the U.N. agency.U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday Washington had intelligence suggesting Iran was working on the technology to deliver a nuclear warhead on a missile.
"I have seen some information that would suggest they have been actively working on delivery systems," Powell told reporters in Brazil.
"I'm talking about what one does with a warhead."The exile group also said Khan had given Iran a Chinese-developed warhead design sometime between 1994 and 1996.
"I have seen intelligence which would corroborate what this dissident group has said and it should be of concern to all parties".
(From Reuters, November 18, 2004)
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