Iran 'tried to buy nuclear items 75 times'

      By Alex Spillius
      Last Updated: 1:52am GMT 17/11/2007



            Iran has tried 75 times in the last five years to buy materials 
that could be used for making a nuclear weapon, it has been reported, as 
Teheran vowed "never" to give up the pursuit of nuclear power.

            Diplomatic sources told the New York Times that the 45-nation 
Nuclear Suppliers Group, an off-shoot of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty, had refused repeated Iranian requests to buy "dual-use" products - 
useful for peaceful or military ends.

            The group, which aims to control and monitor the trade of 
nuclear-related materials, keeps its records secret. But a leaked list of 
items sought by Iran included key ingredients such as nickel powder, 
compressors, furnaces, steel flanges and fittings and electron microscopes.

            The 75 refusals were from only seven of the 45 member states, 
suggesting that Iran had made many more efforts to buy sensitive goods.

            The West fears the Islamic regime, whose president, Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad, has threatened Israel with annihilation, is secretly developing 
a nuclear weapon, which Teheran routinely denies.

            To do so, Iran would have to acquire components and expertise 
from illicit sources.

            Last week, as part of an attempt to be seen to be co-operating 
with the international community, Iran handed United Nations diplomats a 
blueprint, acquired from the "nuclear supermarket" of the rogue Pakistani 
scientist A Q Khan, showing how to create the uranium component of a 
warhead.

            A report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 
earlier this week said that Iran was still defying ultimatums to suspend 
enrichment.

            IAEA officials also confirmed that Iran had installed 3,000 
uranium enriching centrifuges, opening the way to the production of 
weapons-grade uranium.

            On Thursday, Britain and America condemned Iran's continued 
defiance, insisting that they would continue to pursue deeper sanctions at 
the UN Security Council.

            Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said 
yesterday: "Iran will never give up the uranium enrichment technology, which 
it has mastered, as the agency said."

            British and American efforts to force the sanctions issue were 
hampered yesterday when officials from China - a key Iranian ally - pulled 
out of talks due to be held in Brussels next week."


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/11/17/wgulf217.xml



-- 
"16 Take heed unto thyself, and the doctrines; continue in them: for in
doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee."
  1 Tim 4:16 (KJV)