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Venezuela Says Iran Is Helping It Look for Uranium

10 October 2009 11:16 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. A senior aide to Venezuelaâ€™s president, Hugo ChÃ¡vez, said Friday that Iran was assisting Venezuela in the detection and testing of uranium deposits found in remote areas of Venezuela. The disclosure points to the importance Mr. ChÃ¡vez has placed on the development of a nuclear energy program.
â€œIran is helping us with geophysical aerial probes and geochemical analyses,â€ Rodolfo Sanz, Venezuelaâ€™s minister of basic industries and mining, told reporters outside a meeting of Latin American and African leaders in Porlamar, Venezuela.
â€œWe could have important reserves of uranium,â€ Mr. Sanz said, adding that preliminary tests â€œindicate the existence of uranium in western parts of the country and in Santa Elena de UairÃ©n,â€ near the border with Brazil. He also rejected any suggestion that Venezuela might be involved in helping supply uranium for Iranâ€™s nuclear program.
President Obama and British and French leaders on Friday accused Iran of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel.
Iran is Venezuelaâ€™s top ally outside Latin America, working with Mr. ChÃ¡vezâ€™s government on projects, including car manufacturing and military training. Mr. ChÃ¡vez has defended the alliance, contending that it is built around cooperation between two top oil-exporting nations.
Mr. ChÃ¡vez has denied that Venezuela wants to develop nuclear weapons. Venezuelan scientists say significant obstacles remain in advancing the countryâ€™s nuclear ambitions, notably a scarcity of qualified scientific personnel, potentially delaying for years the start of feasible nuclear-energy projects.
Still, Mr. ChÃ¡vez has moved ahead in seeking the help of other countries. This month, he said he had reached an agreement with Russia, the top weapons supplier to Venezuela, for assistance in creating a nuclear energy program.
Mr. ChÃ¡vez also referred this month to a plan to create what he called a â€œnuclear villageâ€ in Venezuela with technological assistance from Iran. This announcement raised concern in some countries, including the United States and France, over the possibility that Venezuela could help Iran bypass a 2006 ban on exporting materials related to its nuclear program to United Nations countries.
â€œWe are not calling into question Venezuelaâ€™s right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, but any transfer from Iran in the nuclear field, including to Venezuela, would be a violation of the resolutions of the Security Council,â€ Christine Fages, a French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said this month.