Alleged Iraq Arms Offer Probed
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VIENNA — The International Atomic Energy Agency is investigating whether a top Pakistani scientist offered Iraq plans for nuclear weapons.
IAEA spokesman David Kyd on Monday confirmed a Newsweek magazine report that his agency is looking into a secret Iraqi memorandum naming Abdul Qadeer Khan as offering to sell designs for a nuclear bomb.
Newsweek identified Qadeer Khan as Pakistan’s top nuclear weapons scientist but said he had denied involvement.
An October 1990 memorandum from Iraq’s intelligence service to its nuclear weapons directorate mentioned Qadeer Khan as offering to help Iraq “manufacture a nuclear weapon,” Newsweek said.
Iraqi officials reportedly rejected the offer, fearing that it was a ruse to entrap them.
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