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UK House of Commons - Foreign Affairs Select Committee

Foreign Policy Aspects of the War against Terrorism

2 July 2006

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