Sunday, February 27 2005 16:37 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Washington: Investigators have uncovered evidence of a secret meeting 18 years ago between Iranian officials and associates of Pakistan's disgraced scientist A Q Khan that resulted in a written offer to supply Tehran with the makings of a nuclear weapons programme, a media report said today (Feb 27, 2005).

The secret meeting, believed to have taken place in a Dubai office in 1987, kick-started Tehran's nuclear efforts and Khan's black market, it said quoting foreign diplomats and US officials familiar with the new findings said.

Iran, which was at war with Iraq then, bought centrifuge designs and a starter kit for uranium enrichment. But Tehran recently told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it turned down the chance to buy the more sensitive equipment required for building the core of a bomb.

There is evidence, however, that Iran used the offer as a buyer's guide, acquiring some of the pricier items elsewhere, officials were quoted by 'Washington Post' as saying.

"The offer is the strongest indication to date that Iran had a nuclear weapons programme, but it doesn't prove it completely," said one Western diplomat who is familiar with the details of the offer and would comment on the probe only on the condition of anonymity.

The information comes as the IAEA's probe of Iran's nuclear programme enters its third year. The IAEA's 35-member board will meet in Vienna tomorrow (Feb 28, 2005) to discuss Iran's case and the agency's latest lines of inquiry.