The UN's top nuclear official called for a new international regime to destroy the flourishing black market in nuclear technology Thursday, describing current controls as "kaput."
Mohammed ElBaradei, the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, said the trade in the technology was now a dangerous "supermarket."
He said recent revelations of clandestine sales to North Korea and Libya were "the tip of the iceberg."
International investigations, led by the CIA and the IAEA but also involving British intelligence (MI6), are being conducted as a matter of urgency into the network in nuclear technology stretching from Europe to Asia, with a hub in the Middle East.
ElBaradei said he knew of people in at least five countries believed to be involved in the nuclear rackets.
His comments came as Abdul Qadeer Khan, the mastermind of the Islamic world's first nuclear bomb, who has admitted trading nuclear information and equipment with other countries, was pardoned on Thursday by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
ElBaradei said Khan's admissions made the issue urgent.
"Khan is the tip of an iceberg for us," he said.
"You need a complete overhaul of the export control system ... This is a number one international security problem we are facing."
He added: "This supermarket is the most dangerous we have seen in years. It is not just Doctor Khan. There are many, in many countries."
He criticized the current regime of export controls as a "gentleman's agreement."
ElBaradei was pessimistic about the chances of combating the trade.
"The spread of nuclear technology and knowledge is out of the tube," he said. "We won't be able to put it back. I am not optimistic, frankly."
Musharraf said on Thursday that international investigators would not be allowed to interview Khan.
But it is almost certain that Pakistan will provide all the information requested by the US and the IAEA on nuclear transfers to Libya, North Korea and Iran.
CIA Director George Tenet, said both the CIA and MI6 had been tracking Khan's network for years.
He said: "Working with our British colleagues, we pieced together the picture of the network, revealing its subsidiaries, its scientists, its front companies, its agents, its finances and manufacturing plants on three continents," Tenet said.
"Our spies penetrated the network through a series of daring operations over several years," Tenet said.
The British government on Thursday night refused to elaborate on the role of MI6 in these operations.
Investigators from ElBaradei's agency are working with national intelligence services to try to crack the contraband networks.
A leading IAEA investigator has recently been to Germany to question retired engineers. A Dubai-based British businessman is also believed to be involved, though the Foreign Office said yesterday it had no knowledge of him.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of