US Claims Iran Building Secret Nuclear Facilities

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Friday, December 13, 2002

US Claims Iran Building Secret Nuclear Facilities

Senior Bush administration officials said the United States has new evidence that Iran is constructing large nuclear facilities that were secret until now, CNN reported Thursday.

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Senior Bush administration officials said the United States has new evidence that Iran is constructing large nuclear facilities that were secret until now, CNN reported Thursday.

Commercial satellite photographs taken in September show a nuclear facility near the town of Natanz and another one near Arak,the officials said.

The nuclear facilities are of a type and size that strongly suggest it may be on course to build a nuclear weapon, the report quoted knowledgeable US officials saying.

Nuclear expert David Albright agrees, citing both the size, anduntil now, the secrecy of the sites.

"Iran looks like it's building very large nuclear facilities that could be part of an effort to make the material you need to make nuclear weapons," said Albright, who is the head of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS).

A spokesman at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Viennaconfirms the agency is seeking access to the two sites and has so far been put off by Iran.

Iranian officials say a trip by senior IAEA officials to Iran is expected in February. IAEA officials say on that trip they wantto visit Arak and Natanz.

Iranian officials say the United States cannot be trusted on the details of its nuclear program since Washington does not want Iran to have any program -- not even for civilian energy.

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