Tehran, Iran ? Iran claimed vindication Tuesday after the U.N. nuclear agency concluded that traces of highly enriched uranium found on centrifuge parts entered this country on imported equipment and did not result from Iranian enrichment activities.

The findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency supported Iran’s contention that traces of enriched uranium entered the country along with centrifuge parts it bought from Pakistan.

The discovery of the traces in Iran had been cited by the United States to support its claim that Tehran has experimented with the production of highly enriched uranium, which is only used in nuclear weapons.

The traces were found two years ago on centrifuges at the uranium enrichment plant in the central Iranian city of Natanz and at the Kalaye Electric site, west of Tehran, raising questions about the motives behind Iran’s nuclear activities.

Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said the IAEA findings vindicated Iran.