BERLIN (AFX) - French nuclear energy group Areva denied a report in a German magazine that a subsidiary was flouting United Nations sanctions by providing Iran with enriched uranium.
It said Iran has a small and 'exclusively financial' stake in French company Eurodif but said this had not led to delivery of enriched uranium to the country.
In an article to be published Monday, Der Spiegel accuses Eurodif of delivering 10 pct of its enriched uranium to Iran from a nuclear site at Pierrelatte in the south of France.
In 1974, Iran invested more than 1 bln usd in a joint French-Iranian company specialising in uranium enrichment called Sofidif, which itself owns 25 pct of Eurodif. As a result, Iran holds indirectly about 10 pct of Eurodif, which is 60 pct owned by Areva.
The Der Spiegel report quotes a study circulated by the European Greens party, which it says reveals never before published details of the partnership agreed between Tehran and the French company.
According to the magazine, Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, led by Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, earns an annual 7 mln eur from its share in the company.
Areva did not deny that Iran was financially profiting from Eurodif's enrichment activities but dismissed out of hand any suggestion that the product was being transported to Iran.
'Iran has an indirect and ultra-minority share in Eurodif. This participation is exclusively financial and has never led to a delivery of enriched uranium to Iran,' an Areva spokesman told AFP.
'Everything is public knowledge... so there is no willingness on our part to start a useless war of words on the subject.' newsdesk@afxnews.com afp/hjp COPYRIGHT Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News. AFX News and AFX Financial News Logo are registered trademarks of AFX News Limited
© 2007 AFX News
