Tehran accused of secretly purifying uranium

The negotiations between EU-3(France, Germany and England) and Iran were suspended to an unspecified date until Iran promise’s to temporarily cease enrichment activities, European diplomats said on condition of anonymity. Tehran has repeatedly said it will not enrich uranium as long as the talks continue.

In a joint statement Wednesday by Iran and the three European Union nations France, Britain and Germany diplomats said the meetings would hold to an accord reached in Paris in November that specified Iran should voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment during the talks.

But Iranian negotiator Sirous Nasseri said the prospect of a permanent ban on enrichment was “nonexistent,” insisting Iran enjoys the right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty like other signatory nations to enrich uranium for use in civilian power production.

But an Iranian exile has accused Tehran of secretly purifying uranium for use in nuclear weapons at a recently-constructed underground facility at a military complex called Parchin.

“Iran has completed an underground tunnel-like facility in Parchin, which is now engaged in laser enrichment,”

Iranian officials were not immediately available for comment, and Tehran has repeatedly denied carrying out any nuclear work at Parchin.

Enrichment is a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel for power plants or weapons.

Iran says it no longer does any work with laser enrichment, a high-tech but inefficient method of purifying uranium.

Iran has said a tunnel complex under a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan had been built to store equipment for protection in case of U.S. or Israeli attack.

As the former spokesman for the Iranian exile group, the National Coalition of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Jafarzadeh revealed in August 2002 information about two hidden sites in Iran, an underground uranium enrichment at Natanz and a heavy-water production plant at Arak.

Iran later declared both sites to the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Iran has been reluctant to allow inspectors from the IAEA into Parchin, which lies some 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Tehran. Earlier this year Iran permitted limited inspections at the site but refused to allow them to return when the agency requested a follow-up inspection.