Vienna, Feb 13: The UN nuclear watchdog has uncovered highly-sensitive designs for machines in Iran that can be used to make bomb-grade material, calling into question Iran's cooperation with the agency, diplomats today said. In Berlin, a senior US official repeated Washington's accusation that Iran wants to make a nuclear bomb.
Several Western diplomats said on condition of anonymity the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has found parallels between Libya's nuclear weapons programme and Iran's atomic programme, which Tehran says is purely peaceful.
''They bought the same stuff from the same people,'' said one Western diplomat who follows the IAEA closely.
US Undersecretary of State John Bolton told a security conference in Berlin it was clear what Tehran was up to.
''There's no doubt in our mind that Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapons programme,'' said Bolton, described by diplomats in Vienna as one of Washington's hardest hardliners.
But Iran shrugged off the charges. ''The burden of proof is on the one who makes the allegations,'' Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters in Rome. ''There may be questions by IAEA inspectors, but we are ready to verify those.'' Bureau Report