Thousands of trees have been uprooted in a Tehran park to prevent United Nations inspectors from finding traces of enriched uranium, a media report said Monday quoting western intelligence sources.
According to the sources, "More than 7,000 trees which may have contained incriminating nuclear traces have been lost in a popular parkland area in the city near the Lavizan atomic research centre," the Daily Telegraph reported.
News of February's cleansing operation comes as the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board meets in Vienna Monday to decide whether Iran should be reported to the United Nations Security Council for failing to comply with its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
To ensure that no incriminating traces of nuclear activity were found, they even ploughed the site and removed six inches of topsoil, the report said.
"The destruction of the trees is yet another example of the measures the Iranians are prepared to take to conceal the true nature of the nuclear programme," said a senior western official.
"But after three years of deliberately trying to conceal their activities from the IAEA, none of the member states is prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt," the official added.
Despite these efforts, IAEA inspectors still found traces of enriched uranium in soil collected from the site.
Intelligence officials concluded that the traces came from nuclear equipment acquired from Dr A Q Khan, the "father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, the report said.
© 2026