Vienna, Austria ? Iran is circumventing international export bans on sensitive dual-use materials by smuggling graphite and a graphite compound that can be used to make conventional and nuclear weapons, an Iranian dissident and a senior diplomat said Friday.

Graphite has many peaceful uses, including steel manufacture, but also can be used as a casing for molten weapons-grade uranium to fit it to nuclear warheads or to shield the cones of conventional missiles from heat.

With most countries adhering to international agreements banning the sale of such “dual-use” materials to Tehran, Iran has been forced to buy it on the black market, Iranian exile Alireza Jafarzadeh told The Associated Press – allegations confirmed by a senior diplomat familiar with Iran’s covert nuclear activities.

“It is not clear how much governments are involved,” Jafarzadeh said later in an interview with Associated Press Television News, adding that he believes Iran is “using front companies to deceive other companies, other entities in foreign countries, and they wouldn’t know what the destination would be.”

Phone calls to Iranian diplomats seeking comment were not answered.

While with the National Coalition of Resistance of Iran, Jafarzadeh disclosed information about two hidden nuclear sites in Iran in 2002 that helped uncover nearly two decades of covert Iranian atomic activity – and sparked present fears Tehran wants to build the bomb.

Much of the equipment – including centrifuges for uranium enrichment and other technology with possible weapons applications – was acquired on the nuclear black market.

The diplomat, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of his position, said Iran also may be interested in acquiring specially heat-resistant “nuclear-grade graphite” that can be used as moderators to slow down the fission process in reactors generating energy.

While Iran does not now have reactors using such moderators, it insists it has the future right to all aspects of peaceful nuclear technology.

Neither Jafarzadeh nor the diplomat could say how much graphite Iran had imported and over what period of time.