Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Dr Kim Howells, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth
Office
I was very pleased the Foreign Affairs Committee
was able to visit New York on 27 February, including a visit to
the UK Mission to the United Nations. I hope you found the visit
both useful and productive.
At the wrap-up session with the UK Mission,
Sir John Stanley asked whether we could follow-up two questions
on Iran following the Committee's meeting with HE Mr M Javad Zarif,
Permanent Representative of Iran to the United Nations.
Sir John asked about the origin of centrifuges
which Ambassador Zarif referred to as having been "reverse
engineered" by Iran. Iranian centrifuge technology—"P1"
and "P2" technology—was obtained through an international
procurement network. "P1" centrifuge technology is based
on technology stolen by AQ Khan from URENCO and developed for
use in Pakistan's uranium enrichment programme. "P2"
technology is a further Pakistani development of the "P1"
technology. Reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) make clear that Iranian procurement of centrifuge technology
from the "international procurement network" included
full drawings.
Sir John also asked about traces of enriched
uranium on Iranian equipment which Ambassador Zarif said had been
wrongly attributed to Iran (he suggested the traces of enriched
uranium had—like the equipment itself—come from elsewhere).
The latest IAEA Board report, of 27 February, notes that: "the
results of the environmental sample analysis tend, on balance,
to support Iran's statement about the foreign origin of most of
the observed HEU [High Enriched Uranium] contamination. It is
still not possible at this time, however, to establish a definitive
conclusion with respect to all of the contamination, particularly
the LEU [Low Enriched Uranium] contamination".
Kim Howells MP
9 March 2006
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