Ahmadinejad: Iran nuclear trigger reports fake
Updated on 22 December 2009
An apparent report describing Tehran's efforts to design a trigger for an atomic bomb was forged by Washington, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad believes.
Ahmadinejad was asked about a report in the Times last week that cited an alleged confidential Iranian technical document describing a four-year plan to test a neutron initiator, the part of a nuclear warhead that sets off an explosion.
When confronted by ABC's Diane Sawyer the president said: "They are all fabricated bunch of papers continuously being forged and disseminated by the American government."
Reports that Iran is working on a bomb trigger are "fundamentally not true," he added.
Last week the Times published what it said was the Farsi-language document, along with an English translation, entitled, "Outlook for Special Neutron-Related Activities Over the Next Four Years".
The document describes steps to develop and test parts for a neutron initiator, a device that floods the core of highly enriched uranium with subatomic particles to touch off the chain reaction of a nuclear explosion.
Last week Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the report "baseless ... not worthy of attention, intended to put political and psychological pressure on Iran."
Iran says its uranium enrichment program is aimed at generating electricity so that it can export more gas and oil.
The West believes Iran wants bombs from enrichment because of its record of nuclear secrecy.
