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Report: Iran got warhead design

VIENNA - The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in a report Tuesday that Iran obtained documents and drawings on the black market that serve no other purpose than to make an atomic warhead. Tehran warned of an "end of diplomacy" if plans to refer it to the U.N. Security Council are carried out.

The report by the agency, ahead of a meeting of its 35-member board Thursday, also confirmed information recently provided by diplomats familiar with the Iran inquiry that Tehran has not started small-scale uranium enrichment since announcing it would earlier this month.

The findings about the design obtained by Iran on the black market was contained in a confidential report for presentation to the 35-nation International Atomic Energy Agency board and provided in full to the Associated Press.

The four-page report criticized Iran for refusing to provide interviews with at least one nuclear scientist and dismissing requests for information on "tests related to high explosives and the design of a missile re-entry vehicle, all of which could have a military nuclear dimension."

A three-year IAEA investigation has not found firm evidence to back assertions by the United States and others that Iran's nuclear activities are a cover for an arms program but has not been able to dismiss such suspicions either.

The findings added to pressure to refer Tehran to the Security Council within days. Such a move, Iran said, would lead to a halt in surprise U.N. inspections beginning Saturday and prompt it to resume nuclear activities.

"If it happens, the government will be required under the law to end the suspension of all nuclear activities it has voluntarily halted," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said late Tuesday, speaking on Iranian television.

Iran insists its nuclear program is civilian only and has no other purpose than to generate power. Enrichment can produce either fuel for a nuclear reactor or the material needed to build a warhead.

European and Russian officials insisted the opportunity for negotiations was not lost, even after envoys from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States agreed in London overnight to recommend that the IAEA's board report Iran to the council when it meets in Vienna.

The top U.N body has the power to impose economic and political sanctions, but none of those measures is immediately likely. Under the deal agreed to by Moscow and Beijing - previous opponents of referral - the Security Council will likely await a new IAEA report at the next board meeting in March before deciding on substantive action, leaving more time for talks with Iran.

But U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called the decision to report Iran to the Security Council a "major step forward."

[Last modified February 1, 2006, 01:04:14]