Zimbabwe has signed a secret deal to supply Iran with the
raw materials needed to develop a nuclear weapon, in breach of international
sanctions.
"I have seen a memorandum of understanding to export
uranium to the Iranians," Zimbabwean Deputy Mining Minister Gift
Chimanikire said. The agreement, which was reportedly signed last year, is
likely to cause alarm in Western capitals. The United States and the European
Union have imposed crippling sanctions on Iran over its nuclear programme which
Tehran insists is for peaceful energy uses but which they fear is intended to
build a bomb.
Zimbabwe is also subject to international sanctions over its
human rights record and conduct of elections. President Robert Mugabe, who won
another five-year term in disputed
polls last month, has publicly backed Iran's nuclear drive.
During a visit by Iran's then president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, to Harare in April 2010, Mugabe said his guest should be assured
of "Zimbabwe's continuous support of Iran's just cause on the nuclear
issue".
Chimanikire is a member of Zimbabwe's opposition who is
likely to be replaced now that the election has brought an end to the shaky
coalition government.
He said the uranium deal had been made without his
knowledge, and was only known to a handful of people at the top of the
government.
Despite the agreement, analysts say that, it was likely to
be a long time before Zimbabwe's uranium reserves were ready for export.
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