Iran 'bought foreign nuke parts'
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Commercial satellite photo of a nuclear facility near Natanz, Iran.
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Inspectors find more sophisticated uranium centrifuge parts in Iran than the type Tehran has admitted to having.
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TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- As part of its nuclear program, Iran received parts from other countries, according to a spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
The official made the comment amid increasing scrutiny on Tehran's secret nuclear program.
Hamid Reza Assefi would not say from what country the parts came, nor would he disclose what type of parts were brought in.
"We purchased some parts from some dealers, but we don't know what was the source or which country they came from," he said Sunday. "It happened that some of the dealers were from some subcontinent countries."
That comment matched those of his boss, Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazzi, who told CNN last month that Tehran dealt with the black market for its nuclear equipment.
"We don't know where they (parts) come from. That is the nature of black market," he told CNN Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour. "Those middlemen when they furnish with some spare parts, they don't know, they don't declare where those spare parts have come from."
Last Friday, a Malaysian police report said a Dubai-based businessman, B.S.A. Tahir, confessed to being one of the middlemen helping Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan transfer Pakistan's nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.
Tahir -- who has residency status in Malaysia -- said Khan sold nuclear parts to Iran for about $3 million in cash, and he served as the middleman in the deal. (Malaysia clears 'dealer')
According to Tahir's account, Iran paid Khan cash transported in two briefcases and left in Khan's apartment in Dubai. The arrangement happened in 1995, Tahir said, shortly after he started his involvement with the Pakistani nuclear expert.
In Washington last week, administration officials said international inspectors have discovered sophisticated uranium centrifuge parts in Iran of a type that Tehran has not admitted to having. (Full story)
International Atomic Energy Agency officials found centrifuge parts that are "far superior, more sophisticated than anything" that the Iranians have revealed publicly, according to a senior Bush administration official.
Officials said the "P-2" type centrifuge parts are similar to those found in Libya.
In early February, Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, confessed to supplying Iran, Libya and other countries with key nuclear parts through his sophisticated nuclear black market. Khan was subsequently pardoned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
