02-27-2004, 02:20 AM
Iran Nuke Negotiator to Leave for India
Wed Feb 25, 9:13 AM ET
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's top nuclear negotiator was heading Wednesday for talks in India, a visit that coincides with growing international concern that Iranian atomic experiments could be related to a secret weapons program.
Hasan Rowhani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, will hold three days of talks with top Indian officials, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the defense and foreign ministers, his office told The Associated Press.
Reza Rezaei, a member of Rowhani's staff, would give no other details about the visit.
But sources close to Rowhani, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit was related to growing pressure over new findings by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran's nuclear program.
India is a member of the 35-nation IAEA, whose board is convening in Vienna on March 8 to reassess the Iranian threat amid mounting pressure from the United States and other countries that contend Iran has been trying to build an atomic bomb.
Iran affirms that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is fully cooperating with the U.N. agency.
The IAEA said in a report Tuesday that U.N. inspectors in Iran have found signs of polonium, a radioactive element that can help trigger a nuclear chain reaction, like that in a nuclear bomb.
The IAEA's report, however, suggested the agency is more concerned with the discovery in Iran this month of an advanced P-2 centrifuge system that could enrich uranium for weapons use. The United States, too, has said the finding raises "serious concerns" about Tehran's intentions.
Under international pressure last year, Iran pledged to cooperate fully with the IAEA in efforts to prove it was not interested in nuclear weapons, including opening its activities to full outside scrutiny.
Last week, Iran confirmed it had bought nuclear equipment from international dealers, including from the Indian subcontinent, but said it doesn't know where the components came from.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, has confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.
Wed Feb 25, 9:13 AM ET
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's top nuclear negotiator was heading Wednesday for talks in India, a visit that coincides with growing international concern that Iranian atomic experiments could be related to a secret weapons program.
Hasan Rowhani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, will hold three days of talks with top Indian officials, including Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the defense and foreign ministers, his office told The Associated Press.
Reza Rezaei, a member of Rowhani's staff, would give no other details about the visit.
But sources close to Rowhani, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the visit was related to growing pressure over new findings by the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran's nuclear program.
India is a member of the 35-nation IAEA, whose board is convening in Vienna on March 8 to reassess the Iranian threat amid mounting pressure from the United States and other countries that contend Iran has been trying to build an atomic bomb.
Iran affirms that its nuclear program is peaceful and that it is fully cooperating with the U.N. agency.
The IAEA said in a report Tuesday that U.N. inspectors in Iran have found signs of polonium, a radioactive element that can help trigger a nuclear chain reaction, like that in a nuclear bomb.
The IAEA's report, however, suggested the agency is more concerned with the discovery in Iran this month of an advanced P-2 centrifuge system that could enrich uranium for weapons use. The United States, too, has said the finding raises "serious concerns" about Tehran's intentions.
Under international pressure last year, Iran pledged to cooperate fully with the IAEA in efforts to prove it was not interested in nuclear weapons, including opening its activities to full outside scrutiny.
Last week, Iran confirmed it had bought nuclear equipment from international dealers, including from the Indian subcontinent, but said it doesn't know where the components came from.
Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program, has confessed to selling nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.