The explanation for the discovery of highly-enriched uranium in August by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the Kalaye Electric Company near Tehran was given on state television by Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi.

The United States has charged that the Iranians have used Kalaye to test centrifuges used to make highly enriched uranium that can be used to make atomic bombs.

The Iranians claim their nuclear program is peaceful and that traces of highly enriched uranium found earlier this year at a factory to make nuclear fuel and located in Natanz, 250 kilometres (150 miles) south of Tehran, were due to contamination from second-hand components bought abroad and imported into Iran.

It is these components that would have been stored temporarily at Kalaye, allegedly leaving the uranium traces.

WAR.WIRE