Iran denies cleaning up nuclear material

TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran yesterday rejected allegations it attempted to clean up radioactive traces possibly left by secret nuclear work at a key military site before granting UN inspectors permission to visit the facility.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters that the allegations were misleading and false, and insisted that such traces could not be cleaned up.

Satellite images of the Parchin military facility that circulated last week appeared to show trucks and earth-moving vehicles at the location. That set off assertions by diplomats, all nuclear experts accredited to the UN nuclear agency in Vienna, about a suspected cleanup operation.

The diplomats said the crews at Parchin might have been trying to erase evidence of a test of a small nuclear-weapon trigger. They were not authorized to discuss the information on the record.

The assertions added to tensions surrounding Iran's controversial nuclear program, which the West fears is geared toward nuclear weapons-making but Tehran insists is for peaceful purposes.

Mehmanparast dismissed the diplomats' assertions.

"Those who are familiar with nuclear physics know that these comments are not remarkable in any way," he said. "This is mainly public speculation and not based on logic." He added, "Basically, nuclear military activities are not cleanable, at all."

He did not directly address the satellite photos but stressed that Parchin has been continuing its "conventional military" activities.