http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories/041706dnintiran.41f e6d8b.html Iran gets parts for weapons from U.S. 06:36 AM CDT on Monday, April 17, 2006 The Washington Post
LOS ANGELES - The Iranian government has intensified efforts to illegally obtain weapons technology from the U.S., United States, contracting with dealers across the country for spare parts to maintain its aging American-made air force planes, its missile forces and its alleged nuclear weapons program, according to federal law enforcement authorities. Over During the past two years, arms dealers have exported or tried to export to Iran experimental aircraft; machines used for measuring the strength of steel, needed for the development of nuclear weapons; assembly kits for F-14 Tomcat fighter jets; and parts used in missile systems and fighter-jet engines. "Iran's weapons acquisition program is becoming more organized," said Stephen Bogni, acting chief of the Arms and Strategic Technology Investigations Unit of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (ICE). "They are looking for more varied and sophisticated technology. Night-vision equipment, unmanned aircraft, missile technology" and weapons of mass destruction. Of all the claims Iran made last week about its nuclear program, a one-sentence assertion by its president has provoked such concern among international nuclear inspectors that they plan to confront Tehran about it this week as they begin a new round of inspections. The assertion involves Iran's claim that even while it begins to enrich small amounts of uranium, it is pursuing a far more sophisticated way of making atomic fuel that American officials and inspectors say could speed Iran's path to developing a nuclear weapon. Iran has maintained that it abandoned work on this advanced technology, the P-2 centrifuge, three years ago. Western analysts long suspected that Iran had a secret program - supplied by renegade Pakistani nuclear engineer Abdul Qadeer Khan - separate from the activity at its main nuclear facility at Natanz. But they had no proof. Then on Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad boasted that Tehran was "presently conducting research" on the P-2 centrifuge, which would quadruple Iran's enrichment powers. Centrifuges are machines to enrich uranium 235, which can fuel nuclear reactors or atom bombs. A delegation of Iranian officials is due to arrive Tuesday in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency will press them to address the new enrichment claim. "This is a much better machine," a European diplomat said of the advanced centrifuge, which was a centerpiece of Pakistan's efforts to build its nuclear weapons. The Bush administration says it is committed to a diplomatic solution to address its concerns that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Iran contends it wants only to generate electricity. But in recent months, it has defied U.N. Security Council demands that it abandon key parts of its program, and, last week, it announced that it had successfully enriched uranium. In the 1960s and '70s, the U.S. United States sold some of its most advanced weapons systems to Iran, when it was led by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Iran 's air force received F-14 Tomcats, F-5 Tigers, F-4 Phantoms, C-130 transport planes and helicopters manufactured by Bell, Boeing and Sikorsky. U.S. sales ended with the 1979 Iranian revolution. Iran's war with Iraq from 1980 to 1988 helped deplete Iran's forces. U.S. contacts with Iran were further restricted in 1995 when President Bill Clinton signed an order effectively prohibiting almost all trade and investment between the two countries. Federal agents said the main method for obtaining U.S. technology is not through espionage but through simple business deals. "We're not talking about 007 running around trying to steal these parts," Mr. Bogni said. "We' re talking about the Iranian government putting out shopping lists to brokers and greedy businessmen." 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