Vienna, Feb 12: Iran failed to declare highly sensitive designs for uranium enrichment centrifuges to the UN nuclear watchdog, calling into question the Islamic Republic's Cooperation with the agency, diplomats said today. Several western diplomats told a news agency on condition of anonymity that information from Libya and other countries had led to the discovery of the designs, which could be used to develop machines to produce weapons-grade material. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials have expressed concerns about the existence of a global nuclear black market that has helped countries under embargo such as Iran, North Korea and Libya skirt international sanctions and obtain nuclear technology that could be used to make weapons. Libya admitted in December that it had been seeking nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and invited US, British and UN experts to help it destroy its weapons of mass destruction facilities. Washington has called on Iran to follow Libya's example by owning up to running atomic weapons programme and fully cooperating with IAEA inspectors. Iran insists that its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes.

Bureau Report