Is Iran Still Hiding Nuclear Activities?

June 18, 2004 -- The International Atomic Energy Agency passed a strongly worded resolution today, saying it "deplores" Iran's lack of cooperation with the U.N. agency's inspectors.

Citing Wednesday's exclusive ABC News report on the destruction of the Lavizon Shiyan site in Tehran, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradai said he hopes inspectors will be able to visit the site before the agency's next board meeting, in September.

Meanwhile, U.S. delegate Ken Brill accused Iran of taking the "wrecking ball and bulldozer" to the site "to deal with some particularly incriminating facts."

The resolution, adopted at the 35-nation board's meeting in Vienna, Austria, "deplores" that "Iran's cooperation has not been as full,timely and proactive as it should have been."

Iran, which maintains its nuclear program is for energy purposes only, reacted angrily to the resolution. Iranian delegate AmirZamaninia told the meeting Tehran was reviewing its "voluntary confidence-building measures," a suggestion that Iran mightreconsider its suspension of its uranium enrichment activities.

Undersecretary of State John Bolton said he was happy with the resolution, even though it does not sanction Iran or set a deadline for it to complain. Bolton said he expects that unless Iran's behavior changes, the matter will be referred to U.N. Security Council for sanctions by September.

The news comes on the heels of fresh evidence showing that Iran continues to conceal elements of its nuclear capability from international inspectors.

Concealing Nuclear Activity?

On Wednesday, ABC News reported that the IAEA had received information recently regarding concealment activity at an alleged nuclear site in a neighborhood of Tehran known as Lavizan Shiyanrned.

Commercial satellite imagery of the site, first taken in the summer of 2003 and again in March 2004, shows that several buildings and laboratories, located in a secured area adjacent to a military complex, were razed and the top soil removed.

The agency was informed about the possible presence at the site of special equipment used in the detection of radiation, ABC News has learned. Such equipment is not unusual in facilities handling radioactive material, but its alleged presence at this site added to speculation surrounding the facility.

Neither the IAEA nor the State Department would confirm the location of the site, or the nature of the activity alleged to have taken place there. The IAEA has not yet inspected the area.

This site has surfaced previously in connection with Iran's biological weapons program.

In May 2003, an Iranian opposition group, the National Council of the Resistance of Iran alleged that the Iranian Ministry of Defense established a biological weapons research facility at Lavizan Shiyan. The NCRI is affiliated with the Mujahedin-e Khalq, designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization. U.S. officials familiar with the NCRI's claims, however, say the group has a track record of providing credible information about Iran's nuclear program.

Although the information about the Lavizan site is not in the IAEA's most recent report, there are several items that have provoked renewed debate about Iran's capabilities and intentions, and raise questions about the transparency of its nuclear program.

After repeated denials, Iranian officials were forced to disclose several months ago that they had obtained from abroad components for an advanced uranium centrifuge machine, known as the P-2. They then insisted the parts were for research and development only.

Big Order for Nuclear Components

In its latest report, the IAEA say Iran had placed, through a private company, an order for some 4,000 magnets suitable for use in the P-2. Such magnets, machined to precise parameters, allow the centrifuge to spin at extremely high speeds without creating heat or friction.

The scale of the order, which Iran has not taken delivery of, is troubling to proliferation experts.

"An order for 4,000 indicates a full scale program order, not a testing one," said Jon Wolfsthal, deputy director for nonproliferation at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The IAEA report also raises new questions about the source of highly enriched uranium particles found on Iran's nuclear equipment. Iran has consistently maintained that the highly enriched uranium findings were the result of "cross-contamination," most likely originating with the supplier of the components.

IAEA laboratory analysis, however, has concluded "it is unlikely" that the particles found at two locations in Iran can be traced to the supplier. This leaves open the possibility that at least some of the particles were the result of Iran's own uranium enrichment activities or are from other, still unidentified, suppliers.

The greater problem pointed up by both issues is Iran's credibility, now under siege.

"A disturbing trend has emerged with Iran. Each time Iran gives an answer to the IAEA, it turns out to be wrong, and wrong on the low side," Wolfsthal said. "Not only have they undermined our trust, they have also given us reason to believe that they are hiding significant parts of their nuclear program."

Jacqueline W. Shire is an ABC News consultant.

ABC News' Johnathan Karl contributed to this report.