(World Affairs) Behnam Ben Taleblu - While negotiating with the IAEA, Iran's half-truths, delayed admissions of illicit activity, and lags in allowing inspectors' visits entrapped inspectors in a bureaucratic rigmarole. For example, Iranian authorities initially claimed that Kalaye Electric, a centrifuge R&D firm, was private, unrelated to Iran's atomic industry. However, Kalaye was chaired by the then-head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. In February 2007, the U.S. Treasury Department designated Kalaye over its role in Iran's centrifuge program. Earlier, Iran had remodeled Kalaye and told the IAEA the plant was a "watch factory." In August 2003 the IAEA was finally allowed to take environmental samples, showing high- and low-enriched uranium particles. The writer is an Iran research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2015-07-03 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive