Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi
Iran Plans a Vast Nuclear Buildup
. ...
But Top Official Denies Any Intentto Develop Weapons
By Elaine Sciolino
New York Times Service
TEHRAN - Iran's top nuclear official
says, that his country intends to &ild
about 10 nuclear power plants in the..n.ext
two decades, but denies accusations by the
United States that Iran is trying to develop
nuclear weapons.
The official, Reza Arnrollahi, also said
that last year he signed a formal contract
with China for two nuclear power reactors
.and that Chinese experts had completed a
feasibility study and had begun to draw up
blueprints and engineering reports for a
site in southern Iran.
Iran has already made a "down payment"
for the project, which will cost $800
million to $900 million and involve training
by Chinese, said Mr. Arnrollahi, director
of Iran's Atomic Ene~gy Organization.
Although the United States has doubted
that China is capable of building the reactors
on its own because the original model'
iricluded parts from Germany and Japan,
Mr. Arnrollahi said the _c!lj.I1.esl; noyvbe~ ,
lieve that they have successfully duplicated
the technology.
The United States has led a global campaign
to prevent Iran from receiving any
nuclear technology because of its suspected
weapons program. Mr. Arnrollahi's
statements suggest that the agreement with,
China is much further along than was
previously known, and that Iran is planning
ilvast long-range nuclear energy program.
, [On Sunday, Leon E. Panetta, the White
House chief of staff, said Secretary of State
Warren M. Christopher had conveyed to
the Chinese his "great concern" over sales
of nuclear technology to Iran.
["We have begun the process of trying to
put pressure on them to move away from
this deal," Mr. Panetta said in a broadcast
interview. ,
[He said the White House would continue
to put pressure on both Moscow and
Beijing to back off and added, "Understand:
This is not acceptable for them to
sell tlUclear technology to the Iranians."]
In addition to its oil reserves Iran has
the second largest naniral g~ reseryes in
the world. Natural gas is much cheaper to
develop than nuclear energy, which makes
U.S. officials suspect that Iran wants nuclear
power for a weapons program.
In a clear attempt to answer charges that
Iran is developing nuclear weapons, Mr.
Arnrollahi made his remarks in a two-anda-half-hour,interview
at his agency's new
six-story building. It is part of a sprawling'
complex in central Tehran that includes a
small nuclear research reactor built for
Iran by the United States in the late 1960s,
when the monarchy was in power and the
relationship with Washington was (:IQs~:..
Officials'offereda bne(tour of the complex,
including a visit to two radio isotope
laboratories for medical research, although
lh~;~d'not allOw a toui' of the reactor.
.I~îii'cise wejget enough money, in case
~ehave enough trained people, we have a
pliûi't~ take 20years to get 20 percent o~
;dûr"ènergy from nuclear," Mr. Arnrollahi
said. Asked if that could mean about 10
'reactors, he said, "Something like that."
That number is higher than what Iranh.~d
preViously been known to be
planning .
Mr. Arnrollahi repeated that
Iran had already invested $6
billion in the project "",,":whichis
subject to international inspection
and safeguards - and
wanted to finish it.
He said the contract with
Moscow consists of a $780 million
deal in which Russia will
complete one of two reactors
that a German firm was building
at the southern port city of
Bushehr before the project was
halted after the 1979revolution.
If that project goes well, Russia
will finish the second reactor.
The United States opposes
the project iri part because it
will give Iran access to expertise,
technology and training it
would not oth~rwise have.
Mr. Arnrollahi said that 150
Russian nuclear experts were
already working at the site and
that 500 would t;:ventually be
based there; a much smaller
.number of 'Iranians will be
'~rained in Russia, he added.
"Training people is part of
:that nuclear power plan," he
said. "I don't know why they
make such a hot fudge of it."
He denied that Iran had ne-
.gotiated - or even discussed -
a plan to buy a gas centrifuge
from Russia that could have '
rapidly enriched uranium to
bomb-grade quality.
"This was a diplomatically
made cake," he said of reports
from Washington about the existence
of a separate, albeit tentative
agreement with Russia.
Russia has agreed to supply
the enriched uranium needed to
operate the plant it willflnish,
;he 'said. Asked whether Iran
:Waspursuing a program to en-
;nch uranium, at first he said,
,l'Not now," but added quickly:
"No. Not forever. Not. No. Not
!at all."
, Asked why Iran does not use
inatural gas for fuel, Mr. Amrollahi
said: "Natural gas is one of
the best fuels, and many countries
at the moment need it. So
we think it is better to sell it."
Like many of Iran's nuclear '
specialists,Mr.- AmrollilhihaS
been educated, i1ndtrained in
the weSt. He hOldsa master's',
degrs:e ~,èlectrical engineering
ffOD;l' th-e University of Texas
ai:1da doctorate in physics from
the University of Paris. "
He has headed Iran's nuclear
program for 15years, and spoke
with precision when discussing
,Iran's program.
, But the United States and
Germany have amassed slib-
,stantial evidence that Iran is
secretly buying Components
and technology from al!road
,!hat they say can only be usefül
•ID a weapons program.
U.S. and German inteHi-.
gence officials believe that Mr. '
Arnrollahi controls only part of
Iran's nuclear program and that
Tehran has created a parallel
program through the military
thatis lll.1gelyresponsible for
purchases of nuclear related
items.
According to this view, the
Defense Ministry Organization
inside the, Defense Ministry
uses front organizations like the
Sharif University of Technology
in Tehran to help buy nuclear-related
equipment.
On the basis of reportsby
Germany's foreign intelligencè
agency in 1992 and 1993 that
Sharif was involved in secret
nuclear activities, Germany began
to reject all requests for
equipment by the university.
Early last year, the German
agency said that the university's
physics research center was in-'
volved in buying technology
that could be used in making
.weapons, including nuclear-related
materials.
Mr. Arnrollahi strongly de-
.nied that he was not fully in
.charge.
"I am the responsible for the
atomic energy of Iran," he said.
He also denied reports that'
Iran secretly has been buying'
nuclear technology and equipment
from abroad, noting that
the International Atomic Energy
Agency, which is responsible
for monitoring nuclear pro-
,grams around the world, turned
up nothing suspicious during a.
VISitto Sharif,University.
But the nuclear chief was linfamiliar
with intelligence re-
,ports about Iran's nuclear-related
overtures abroad and
asked for copies of news reports.
describing the details.
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