Senior Iranian officials are overseeing efforts to conceal key elements of the country’s nuclear program from international inspectors, according to Western diplomats and an intelligence report.
If the cover-up is confirmed, it would bolster a U.S. assertion that Iran is trying to hide a secret nuclear weapons program.
Iran set up a committee to coordinate the concealment efforts after international inspectors uncovered evidence late last year that the Islamic republic had tried to hide aspects of its nuclear program, including secret research on advanced centrifuges that can produce weapons-grade uranium, according to the diplomats.
A diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one of the committee’s most pressing tasks is trying to hide evidence at nearly 300 locations scattered around the country. The committee is said to be composed mainly of senior officials from the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran who report to upper echelons of the government.
Iran has said it will deny access to some sites by international inspectors who were scheduled to work Saturday. Iran cited a continuing New Year’s holiday as justification for barring inspectors.
A Bush administration official said the U.S. had within the past month received the intelligence report–prepared by a country other than the U.S.–and believes it to be credible.
Washington would likely portray any Iranian cover-up as a smoking gun of a nuclear weapons program. The United States is likely to use any evidence to prod Europe, which has been pursuing an engagement strategy with Tehran, to take a harder line at the June meeting of the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
“The report is being viewed seriously because it originates from outside U.S. intelligence sources,” said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Western diplomat who first described the new intelligence report is not American. He also provided a written analysis of the report, though not the actual document, to the Los Angeles Times.
A second foreign diplomat confirmed the substance of the report’s central allegations about a concerted effort by Iran to hide nuclear activities.