 "Pakistan helped in nuke programme, reveals former Iranian Prez")
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Speaking to his country’s media, former Iranian President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani revealed that Iran had received help from Pakistan in its nuclear programme during the 1980s.
Rafsanjani, who served as Iran’s President from 1989 to 1997, revealed that his country received 4,000 used centrifuges for enriching uranium, along with nuclear technology and designs from Pakistan.
Rafsanjani did not make it clear if the then government of Pakistan had authorised sharing of nuclear technology or if Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan’s proliferation ring had helped Iran without government sanction.
Khan has been accused of supplying nuclear technology and materials to various countries, including Iran, Libya and North Korea. Pakistan has disavowed his activities and continues to claim that these instances of nuclear proliferation are actions of a rogue network.
“Abdul Qadeer Khan believed that the Islamic world had to have a nuclear bomb...,” Rafsanjani was quoted by IBTimes as saying in an interview. “The Pakistanis agreed to help us somewhat. We were at war, and we wanted to have such an option for the day our enemies wanted to use nuclear weapons....”
The Hindustan Times reported that Pakistan lifted most of the restrictions imposed on Khan in 2009. However, it has not allowed him to be questioned by the US or IAEA investigators.
Referring to China’s involvement in his country’s nuclear programme, Rafsanjani said: “The Isfahan UCF (uranium conversion facility) was built by the Chinese. They produced the plans. We gave the Chinese $60 million for Isfahan, but they left the job unfinished.”
