Iran got designs from the nuclear black market run by a Pakistani scientist showing how to cast highly radioactive uranium into a form that could be used to build the core of an atomic bomb, diplomats said Friday.
The revelations came as Iran said it had started converting a second batch of uranium into gas. Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told state TV the country had started converting a second batch of uranium. "This job is done and the plant is continuing its activity," Larijani said in the interview recorded late Thursday and aired Friday.
He added that Iran had informed the U.N.'s nuclear monitoring agency of the development.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that Iran received the detailed designs from the network managed by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear program.
The document given to Iran showed how to cast "enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into hemispherical forms," said a confidential IAEA report, cited by the AP. The report said Iran insisted it had not asked for the designs but was given them anyway by members of the nuclear network.
