Iran on Friday denied a recent report in the German weekly
magazine Der Spiegel which alleged Tehran had a secret fund to
finance its nuclear activities, the official IRNA news agency
reported.
Developing Iran's peaceful nuclear program does not require the
approval of a secret budget, the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of
Iran in Berlin said in a statement.
All of Iran's nuclear activities are under the supervision of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and there have been
no references about secret activities in IAEA reports, the
statement said.
"On the issue of the construction of a new nuclear power plant,
we state that there is no need for secrecy since the IAEA is
supporting the rights of countries to use peaceful nuclear energy,"
it said.
Furthermore, if Iran would want to undertake such steps, it
could announce and act openly, the statement added.
Der Spiegel, citing information from telephone calls of a top
Iranian official on a line tapped by a Western intelligence
service, reported on Monday that Iran may have set aside a secret
fund of 418 million U.S. dollars for its nuclear operations.
The money would be used to upgrade the defense of Iranian
nuclear facilities around the country, especially for tunneling
projects because Iran's leadership fears a U.S. or Israeli surprise
attack, the German magazine reported.
Other intended uses for the fund are the production of dozens of
new centrifuges for uranium enrichment and the construction of a
secret new nuclear plant at an unknown location, the report
said.
The United States has been seeking to impose sanctions on Iran
through the UN Security Council on the grounds that Tehran is
developing a nuclear-weapon program under the guise of a
civilian-use program.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful
purposes and voiced hope for talks on the nuclear standoff. But the
Islamic Republic rejected a prerequisite of suspending nuclear work
for such talks.
(Xinhua News Agency?November 18, 2006)
