IRAN ASKED TO EXPLAIN EVIDENCE SUGGESTING EXPERIMENTING WITH ADVANCED NUCLEAR WARHEAD DESIGN

PanARMENIAN.Net
06.11.2009 18:03 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The UN’s nuclear watchdog has asked Iran to explain
evidence suggesting that Iranian scientists have experimented with
an advanced nuclear warhead design, the Guardian has learned.

The very existence of the technology, known as a "two-point implosion"
device, is officially secret in both the US and Britain, but according
to previously unpublished documentation in a dossier compiled by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian scientists may have
tested high-explosive components of the design. The development was
today described by nuclear experts as "breathtaking" and has added
urgency to the effort to find a diplomatic solution to the Iranian
nuclear crisis.

The sophisticated technology, once mastered, allows for the production
of smaller and simpler warheads than older models. It reduces the
diameter of a warhead and makes it easier to put a nuclear warhead
on a missile.

Documentation referring to experiments testing a two-point detonation
design are part of the evidence of nuclear weaponisation gathered by
the IAEA and presented to Iran for its response.

The dossier, titled "Possible Military Dimensions of Iran’s Nuclear
Program", is drawn in part from reports submitted to it by western
intelligence agencies.

Extracts from the dossier have been published previously, but it
was not previously known that it included documentation on such an
advanced warhead.

The revelation of the documents comes at a time of growing tension.

Tehran has so far rejected a deal that would remove most of its
enriched uranium stockpile for a year and replace it with nuclear fuel
rods which would be much harder to turn into weapons. The Iranian
government has also balked at negotiations, which were due to begin
last week, over its continued enrichment of uranium, in defiance of
UN security council resolutions.

There are fears in Washington and London that if no deal is reached to
at least temporarily defuse tensions by the end of December, Israel
could set in motion plans to take military action aimed at setting
back the Iranian programme by force, with incalculable consequences
for the Middle East.

Iran has rejected most of the IAEA material on weaponisation
as forgeries, but has admitted carrying out tests on multiple
high-explosive detonations synchronized to within a microsecond.

Tehran has told the agency that there is a civilian application for
such tests, but has so far not provided any evidence for them.

Western weapons experts say there are no such civilian applications,
but the use of coordinated detonations in nuclear warheads is well
known. They compress the fissile core, or pit, of the warhead until
it reaches critical mass.

A US national intelligence estimate two years ago said that Iran had
explored nuclear warhead design for several years but had probably
stopped in 2003. British, French and German officials have said
they believe weaponisation continued after that date and may still
be continuing.