Pakistan helps UN in Iran nuke probe

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has sent parts of "old" centrifuges to Vienna to help an investigation by the United Nations nuclear watchdog into whether Iran has been building an atomic bomb, the government said.

UN inspectors could compare the parts with machinery sold to Iran by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb programme who has been kept under virtual house arrest in Islamabad since admitting nuclear proliferation last year.

"As regards the used components of an old and discarded centrifuge, which have no bearing on our national security, they have been sent with our experts for their analysis in the presence of our experts," Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, told Reuters.

"The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) would share the results of the investigation with us," he said.

Another senior official, who declined to be identified, said parts of more than one old centrifuge had been sent to Vienna.

President Pervez Musharraf said two months ago the government was considering sending centrifuge components to the Vienna-based IAEA to help provide clues to Iran's nuclear programme. The centrifuge parts could hold crucial fingerprints, or "DNA", of uranium traces found on equipment in Iran, experts say.

Pakistan initially said it would not hand over centrifuge parts and denied there had been a request for it to do so.

But in March, Pakistan acknowledged for the first time that Khan, the disgraced scientist at the centre of a global atomic black market, had provided Iran with centrifuges used to produce enriched uranium fuel for nuclear power plants or arms.

The IAEA has been investigating Iran for more than two years. It has found no proof Tehran has plans to build a nuclear bomb, as suspected by the United States, but it has also been unable to verify Tehran's assertion that its programme is entirely peaceful.

In 2003, the IAEA found traces of uranium in Iran that had been enriched to various levels, some of them close to what would be usable in weapons.

That sparked fears that Tehran's secret centrifuge programme had been used to purify uranium for atomic weapons.

Iran blamed the traces on contaminated centrifuge components it had acquired second-hand from Pakistan.

Pakistan's refusal to allow IAEA experts to take environmental samples inside the country has prevented the IAEA from verifying Iran's explanation.

Pakistan has also not allowed foreign investigators to question Khan.

- REUTERS