Surprise, surprise: US Iran report branded dishonest
BBC | Thursday, 14 September 2006, 15:57 GMT 16:57 UK
**See also IAEA complains of ‘outrageous inaccuracies in Iran Report to House Inteligence Committee’
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes |
The UN nuclear watchdog has protested to the US government over a report on Iran’s nuclear programme, calling it “erroneous” and “misleading”. In a leaked letter, the IAEA said a congressional report contained serious distortions of the agency’s own findings on Iran’s nuclear activity.
The IAEA also took “strong exception” to claims made over the removal of a senior safeguards inspector.
The IAEA said the letter was sent to “set the record straight on the facts”.
“This is a matter of the integrity of the IAEA and its inspectors,” spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said in a statement.
‘Deja vu’
The letter, signed by Vilmos Cserveny, a senior director at the International Atomic Energy Agency, was sent to the head of the House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Intelligence, Peter Hoekstra.
It says a report by the committee on 23 August was wrong to say that Iran had enriched uranium to weapons-grade level when the IAEA had only found small quantities of enrichment at far lower levels.
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READ THE REPORT US report on Iran’s nuclear programme [689KB] IAEA (UN) response to US report [227KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader |
The letter went on to say that it took “strong exception to the incorrect and misleading assertion” that the IAEA removed senior safeguards inspector Chris Charlier for “allegedly raising concerns about Iranian deception” over its programme.
It went on to say the report contained an “outrageous and dishonest suggestion” that he was removed for not adhering to an alleged IAEA policy barring its “officials from telling the whole truth” about Iran.
Mr Charlier had been removed at Tehran’s request, the letter said.
There was no immediate response from Washington over the letter.
A Western diplomat called it “deja vu of the pre-Iraq war period”.
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