Iran-IAEA Agreement on “Alleged Studies”

Iran has agreed to answer allegations that it studied how to design nuclear bombs, IAEA Chief Mohammad ElBaradei announced in Vienna today. IAEA called the agreement a “milestone.”

“An agreement was reached during the meetings in Tehran on a process that aims to clarify the so-called alleged studies during the month of May,” an IAEA spokeswoman said.

The alleged studies include charts on process of converting enriched uranium into uranium metal; a document on casting of uranium metal into the shape of a nuclear warhead; schematics of a Shahab-3 missile re-entry vehicle with apparent capability of carrying a nuclear warhead; and plans on remote explosive testing, another core element in any nuclear weapon program.

Iran had in the past dismissed the alleged studies as “baseless” and the intelligence behind them as “fake.”