America accused of lying about Iran - Sky.com

[Narsil]

Surprised?

The United States has been accused of lying over Iran's progress towards building a nuclear weapon.

A leaked letter from the UN's atomic watchdog claims a congressional report of containing "erroneous, misleading and unsubstantiated information".

The agency noted five major errors, including a claim that Iran is producing weapons-grade uranium at its facility in Natanz. The IAEA called that "incorrect".

Agency inspectors previously made it clear that Tehran had only purified the substance to a low level usable for nuclear power reactor fuel.

The congressional report was released last month with the stated intention of "helping increase the American public's understanding of Iran as a threat".

The letter said the IAEA Secretariat also took "strong exception" to a claim that the agency removed an inspector for supposedly concluding Iran was aiming to build weapons.

The IAEA has been inspecting Tehran's nuclear programme since 2003.

Although it has found no hard evidence that Iran is working on atomic weapons, it has uncovered many previously concealed activities linked to uranium enrichment.

Agency spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: "We felt obliged to put the record straight with regard to the facts on what we have reported on Iran.

"It's a matter of the integrity of the IAEA."

Diplomats say Washington, spearheading efforts to isolate Iran with sanctions over its nuclear work, has long perceived agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei to be "soft" on Tehran.