Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris
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REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RwISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN ÖZETi<br />
Iran Plans a Vast Nuclear Buildup<br />
. ...<br />
But Top Official Denies Any Intentto Develop Weapons<br />
By Elaine Sciolino<br />
New York Times Service<br />
TEHRAN - Iran's top nuclear official<br />
says, that his country intends to &ild<br />
about 10 nuclear power plants in the..n.ext<br />
two <strong>de</strong>ca<strong>de</strong>s, but <strong>de</strong>nies accusations by the<br />
United States that Iran is trying to <strong>de</strong>velop<br />
nuclear weapons.<br />
The official, Reza Arnrollahi, also said<br />
that last year he signed a formal contract<br />
with China for two nuclear power reactors<br />
.and that Chinese experts had compl<strong>et</strong>ed a<br />
feasibility study and had begun to draw up<br />
blueprints and engineering reports for a<br />
site in southern Iran.<br />
Iran has already ma<strong>de</strong> a "down payment"<br />
for the project, which will cost $800<br />
million to $900 million and involve training<br />
by Chinese, said Mr. Arnrollahi, director<br />
of Iran's Atomic Ene~gy Organization.<br />
Although the United States has doubted<br />
that China is capable of building the reactors<br />
on its own because the original mo<strong>de</strong>l'<br />
iriclu<strong>de</strong>d parts from Germany and Japan,<br />
Mr. Arnrollahi said the _c!lj.I1.esl; noyvbe~ ,<br />
lieve that they have successfully duplicated<br />
the technology.<br />
The United States has led a global campaign<br />
to prevent Iran from receiving any<br />
nuclear technology because of its suspected<br />
weapons program. Mr. Arnrollahi's<br />
statements suggest that the agreement with,<br />
China is much further along than was<br />
previously known, and that Iran is planning<br />
ilvast long-range nuclear energy program.<br />
, [On Sunday, Leon E. Pan<strong>et</strong>ta, the White<br />
House chief of staff, said Secr<strong>et</strong>ary of State<br />
Warren M. Christopher had conveyed to<br />
the Chinese his "great concern" over sales<br />
of nuclear technology to Iran.<br />
["We have begun the process of trying to<br />
put pressure on them to move away from<br />
this <strong>de</strong>al," Mr. Pan<strong>et</strong>ta said in a broadcast<br />
interview. ,<br />
[He said the White House would continue<br />
to put pressure on both Moscow and<br />
Beijing to back off and ad<strong>de</strong>d, "Un<strong>de</strong>rstand:<br />
This is not acceptable for them to<br />
sell tlUclear technology to the Iranians."]<br />
In addition to its oil reserves Iran has<br />
the second largest naniral g~ reseryes in<br />
the world. Natural gas is much cheaper to<br />
<strong>de</strong>velop than nuclear energy, which makes<br />
U.S. officials suspect that Iran wants nuclear<br />
power for a weapons program.<br />
In a clear attempt to answer charges that<br />
Iran is <strong>de</strong>veloping nuclear weapons, Mr.<br />
Arnrollahi ma<strong>de</strong> his remarks in a two-anda-half-hour,interview<br />
at his agency's new<br />
six-story building. It is part of a sprawling'<br />
complex in central Tehran that inclu<strong>de</strong>s a<br />
small nuclear research reactor built for<br />
Iran by the United States in the late 1960s,<br />
when the monarchy was in power and the<br />
relationship with Washington was (:IQs~:..<br />
Officials'offereda bne(tour of the complex,<br />
including a visit to two radio isotope<br />
laboratories for medical research, although<br />
lh~;~d'not allOw a toui' of the reactor.<br />
.I~îii'cise wejg<strong>et</strong> enough money, in case<br />
~ehave enough trained people, we have a<br />
pliûi't~ take 20years to g<strong>et</strong> 20 percent o~<br />
;dûr"ènergy from nuclear," Mr. Arnrollahi<br />
said. Asked if that could mean about 10<br />
'reactors, he said, "Som<strong>et</strong>hing like that."<br />
That number is higher than what Iranh.~d<br />
preViously been known to be<br />
planning .<br />
Mr. Arnrollahi repeated that<br />
Iran had already invested $6<br />
billion in the project "",,":whichis<br />
subject to international inspection<br />
and safeguards - and<br />
wanted to finish it.<br />
He said the contract with<br />
Moscow consists of a $780 million<br />
<strong>de</strong>al in which Russia will<br />
compl<strong>et</strong>e one of two reactors<br />
that a German firm was building<br />
at the southern port city of<br />
Bushehr before the project was<br />
halted after the 1979revolution.<br />
If that project goes well, Russia<br />
will finish the second reactor.<br />
The United States opposes<br />
the project iri part because it<br />
will give Iran access to expertise,<br />
technology and training it<br />
would not oth~rwise have.<br />
Mr. Arnrollahi said that 150<br />
Russian nuclear experts were<br />
already working at the site and<br />
that 500 would t;:ventually be<br />
based there; a much smaller<br />
.number of 'Iranians will be<br />
'~rained in Russia, he ad<strong>de</strong>d.<br />
"Training people is part of<br />
:that nuclear power plan," he<br />
said. "I don't know why they<br />
make such a hot fudge of it."<br />
He <strong>de</strong>nied that Iran had ne-<br />
.gotiated - or even discussed -<br />
a plan to buy a gas centrifuge<br />
from Russia that could have '<br />
rapidly enriched uranium to<br />
bomb-gra<strong>de</strong> quality.<br />
"This was a diplomatically<br />
ma<strong>de</strong> cake," he said of reports<br />
from Washington about the existence<br />
of a separate, albeit tentative<br />
agreement with Russia.<br />
Russia has agreed to supply<br />
the enriched uranium nee<strong>de</strong>d to<br />
operate the plant it willflnish,<br />
;he 'said. Asked wh<strong>et</strong>her Iran<br />
:Waspursuing a program to en-<br />
;nch uranium, at first he said,<br />
,l'Not now," but ad<strong>de</strong>d quickly:<br />
"No. Not forever. Not. No. Not<br />
!at all."<br />
, Asked why Iran does not use<br />
inatural gas for fuel, Mr. Amrollahi<br />
said: "Natural gas is one of<br />
the best fuels, and many countries<br />
at the moment need it. So<br />
we think it is b<strong>et</strong>ter to sell it."<br />
Like many of Iran's nuclear '<br />
specialists,Mr.- AmrollilhihaS<br />
been educated, i1ndtrained in<br />
the weSt. He hOldsa master's',<br />
<strong>de</strong>grs:e ~,èlectrical engineering<br />
ffOD;l' th-e University of Texas<br />
ai:1da doctorate in physics from<br />
the University of <strong>Paris</strong>. "<br />
He has hea<strong>de</strong>d Iran's nuclear<br />
program for 15years, and spoke<br />
with precision when discussing<br />
,Iran's program.<br />
, But the United States and<br />
Germany have amassed slib-<br />
,stantial evi<strong>de</strong>nce that Iran is<br />
secr<strong>et</strong>ly buying Components<br />
and technology from al!road<br />
,!hat they say can only be usefül<br />
•ID a weapons program.<br />
U.S. and German inteHi-.<br />
gence officials believe that Mr. '<br />
Arnrollahi controls only part of<br />
Iran's nuclear program and that<br />
Tehran has created a parallel<br />
program through the military<br />
thatis lll.1gelyresponsible for<br />
purchases of nuclear related<br />
items.<br />
According to this view, the<br />
Defense Ministry Organization<br />
insi<strong>de</strong> the, Defense Ministry<br />
uses front organizations like the<br />
Sharif University of Technology<br />
in Tehran to help buy nuclear-related<br />
equipment.<br />
On the basis of reportsby<br />
Germany's foreign intelligencè<br />
agency in 1992 and 1993 that<br />
Sharif was involved in secr<strong>et</strong><br />
nuclear activities, Germany began<br />
to reject all requests for<br />
equipment by the university.<br />
Early last year, the German<br />
agency said that the university's<br />
physics research center was in-'<br />
volved in buying technology<br />
that could be used in making<br />
.weapons, including nuclear-related<br />
materials.<br />
Mr. Arnrollahi strongly <strong>de</strong>-<br />
.nied that he was not fully in<br />
.charge.<br />
"I am the responsible for the<br />
atomic energy of Iran," he said.<br />
He also <strong>de</strong>nied reports that'<br />
Iran secr<strong>et</strong>ly has been buying'<br />
nuclear technology and equipment<br />
from abroad, noting that<br />
the International Atomic Energy<br />
Agency, which is responsible<br />
for monitoring nuclear pro-<br />
,grams around the world, turned<br />
up nothing suspicious during a.<br />
VISitto Sharif,University.<br />
But the nuclear chief was linfamiliar<br />
with intelligence re-<br />
,ports about Iran's nuclear-related<br />
overtures abroad and<br />
asked for copies of news reports.<br />
<strong>de</strong>scribing the <strong>de</strong>tails.<br />
64