Iraq uranium row spreads to Italy

Iraq's weapons capabilities remain a source of bitter contention

Mystery is growing over Italian intelligence about Iraq's alleged uranium "shopping", after a Rome newspaper published transcripts of what it said were secret documents about the affair.

Reports that Baghdad was trying to buy uranium from Niger were used by the UK as part of its justification for going to war against Iraq.

The Italian and French Governments have both flatly denied suggestions from unnamed UK sources that they were the originators of the information.

We don't know if it was the English who passed on that stuff to the CIA...it's rather probable Italian secret service source quoted in La Repubblica

But on Wednesday, the left-wing Italian paper La Repubblica published details of what it said were documents obtained by Italy and passed to MI6 in London.

The paper said that the documents, reportedly obtained by Italian secret services from an African diplomat, contained huge inconsistencies which suggested they were forgeries.

One, for example, was a letter both addressed to and signed by the president of Niger. Another referred to an event which had not happened at the time the letter was dated.

The US has already retracted its uranium claims against Iraq, apologising for accepting as true documents which have since turned out to be forgeries.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna has confirmed that documents which it has seen are forgeries.

If there was any further information it would still be appropriate for the IAEA to receive it in order to verify its veracity Melissa Fleming International Atomic Energy Agency

But the UK has continued to insist that its own uranium information came from elsewhere, and has not been seen by either the US or the IAEA.

To add further confusion, however, some sources described as being close to the IAEA have been quoted in the UK as saying the British-held intelligence may be based on the same original batch of forged papers.

The IAEA confirmed on Wednesday that it has not seen the UK documents, but would like to in an attempt to clear up the mystery.

"If there was any further information it would still be appropriate for the IAEA to receive it in order to verify its veracity," IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming told BBC News Online.

The intelligence on which we based this was not the so-called forged documents that have been put to the IAEA Tony Blair UK Prime Minister

Italian magistrates are now probing the Rome end of the affair, and are reported to have asked for any intelligence documents relating to the uranium claims.

The UK Prime Minister Tony Blair told Parliament on Wednesday that he stood by the UK's uranium claim.

"The intelligence on which we based this was not the so-called forged documents that have been put to the IAEA, and the IAEA have accepted that they got no such forged documents from British intelligence," he said.

The UK has said only that its information came from foreign intelligence, but will not specify which country.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini has flatly denied that Italy passed any uranium documents to a foreign power.

"Never, never," he said on Tuesday.

France has also denied passing on any information on the subject.