North Korea and Iran
Pakistan is one of few countries to have diplomatic relations with North Korea, first established during the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's regime, a socialist democratic regime in Pakistan. In 1990, it was reported that the highly sensitive centrifuge technology was being exported to North Korea in exchange for missile technologies. On multiple occasions, Qadeer Khan had alleged that, Benazir Bhutto had "issued clear direction" for that matter. In 1993, the downloaded secret information on uranium enrichment was delivered to North Korea in exchange for information on developing ballistic missiles. Sometime in 1999, it was alleged that he again paid visit to North Korea with a senior army general to buy shoulder-launched missiles.
In 1987, Iran wanted to purchase a fuel-cycle technology from Pakistan, but it was rebuffed. Zia calculated that the civil nuclear cooperation with Iran was purely a "civil matter" and maintaining good relations with Tehran. Zia did not further approve any nuclear deals, but Qadeer Khan secretively handed over the sensitive report on centrifuges in 1987–89. It was in 2003 that the nature of such agreement was made public The Iranian government came under intense pressure from the Western world to fully disclose its nuclear program; the country agreed to accept tougher inspections from the IAEA. The IAEA inspection showed that Iran had established a large uranium enrichment facility using gas centrifuges based on the URENCO designs, which had been obtained "from a foreign intermediary in 1989". The intermediary was not named but many diplomats and analysts pointed to Qadeer Khan. The Iranians turned over the names of their suppliers and the international inspectors quickly identified the Iranian gas centrifuges as Pak-1's, the model that Khan developed in the early 1970s.
Read more about this topic: Abdul Qadeer Khan, Expansion of Network
Famous quotes containing the words north and/or iran:
“We have heard all of our lives how, after the Civil War was over, the South went back to straighten itself out and make a living again. It was for many years a voiceless part of the government. The balance of power moved away from it—to the north and the east. The problems of the north and the east became the big problem of the country and nobody paid much attention to the economic unbalance the South had left as its only choice.”
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—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)