Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)

No nuke assistance to Iran: Pakistan

Islamabad, Aug 6, IRNA -- Pakistan has rejected as "completely false, 
irresponsible and motivated" a US media report alleging Pakistani     
assistance to Iran in the latter's alleged enrichment program.        
    "Such reports appear part of a malicious campaign against         
Pakistan's consistent and established record of safeguarding its      
sensitive nuclear technology and ensuring that this technology was not
transferred by any organization or individual to any other country,"  
a foreign office spokesman said yesterday.                            
    He was responding to a question regarding a news report in the    
US alleging Pakistan's assistance to an alleged Iranian enrichment    
program.                                                              
    The spokesman termed the report as "completely false,             
irresponsible and obviously motivated." This allegation, he said,     
had already been denied at the highest level.                         
    "Pakistan's commitments, affirmed at the highest level, that it   
would not export any sensitive technologies to third countries remains
unquestionable. Pakistan has a strong export control regime in place. 
Pakistan's record in this regard is impeccable," he added.            
    He recalled a response by the State Department spokesman on March 
10 to media speculations alleging Pakistan's cooperation with Iran in 
the nuclear field.                                                    
    He said the State Department spokesman had said that Pakistan had 
affirmed that it did not want to become a source of sensitive         
technology for Iran and the US believed that Pakistan took this       
responsibility seriously.                                             
    Regarding Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan, the spokesman said "Pakistan's   
prominent scientist had never set foot in Iran or ever met with any   
Iranian nuclear experts."                                             
    "The false allegation by the so-called defector from Iran that Dr.
A.Q. Khan had a villa on the Caspian further demonstrated the baseless
and fabricated nature of these wild flights of fancy."                
    The spokesman further said that any similarity in the shape of    
the centrifuges is due to the fact that they are all based on the     
Zippe design.                                                         
    He dwelt at length on the origin and nature of the centrifuge     
enrichment technology and said the pioneering work on centrifuge      
enrichment took place in Nazi Germany.                                
    The spokesman further explained: After World War II, a number of  
prominent German scientists engaged in the development of missile and 
also centrifuge technology went to various countries.                 
    The most prominent scientist in the centrifuge enrichment program 
was Dr Gernot Zippe, who was taken to Suchami on the Black Sea where  
he developed his famous Zippe centrifuge.                             
    Subsequently, he worked in the University of Virginia in          
Charlottesville. He was commissioned by the US Atomic Energy          
Commission (AEC) to write a comprehensive technical report on         
enrichment centrifuge technology and on the detailed design of        
centrifuge machines. The Zippe report published in 1960 under AEC     
Contract Number R.No. EP.4120-101-60U became the basis of all         
subsequent and current work in this field.                            
    The only barriers that then existed in 1960 towards               
operationalizing centrifuge enrichment plants and projects were       
imposed by the then state of materials technology. These constraints  
were overcome over a period of time with the development of high      
strength material able to withstand the necessary technical           
requirements.                                                         
    The spokesman said: "It should be clear that all present-day      
centrifuges are based on the Zippe design and look similar since form 
follows function." Such is also the case for missiles, cars, planes   
and motorcycles, he added.                                            
MMZ/LS/210                                                            
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