TEHRAN: The head of the UN nuclear agency arrived in Iran on Saturday for talks on a timetable for inspectors to visit a newly disclosed unfinished nuclear enrichment plant, state radio reported.
A senior Iranian nuclear official told Reuters that El-Baradei would discuss plans to allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit the site, as demanded by world powers. He said El-Baradei would not visit any nuclear site.
Iran agreed with six powers in Geneva on Thursday to allow IAEA inspectors unfettered access to the plant, near the city of Qom, but did not set a time frame.
The West suspects Tehran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists it needs the nuclear technology to generate power to meet booming domestic demand.
Western officials said Iran had agreed “in principle” on Thursday to ship out most of its enriched uranium for reprocessing in Russia and France. It would then be returned to power a Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes.
Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said in a statement that El-Baradei’s visit was “not related to the Geneva meeting” but that there would be discussions on continued cooperation, particularly with regard to fuel for the Tehran reactor.
Iran has repeatedly rejected demands to halt uranium enrichment, which can have both military or civilian use, or even freeze it at current levels of output.
The talks in Geneva ended without agreement on the idea of “freeze for freeze” — a suspension of further enrichment in return for a halt to additional UN sanctions against Iran. Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said Friday that this issue had not been discussed in Geneva.
Tehran denies the West’s accusations that it deliberately concealed the building of its second uranium enrichment plant.
The IAEA chief has said Iran was “on the wrong side of the law” in failing to declare the plant as soon as plans were drawn up.
The Geneva meeting, to be followed by more talks in late October, eased tension over Iran’s nuclear intentions. But Western powers said Iran needed to offer more transparency at the second meeting to prevent tougher UN sanctions.
The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany all took part. Russia and China, major trade partners of Iran, have long opposed harsh sanctions against Iran.
El-Baradei was last in Iran in January 2008 to negotiate the implementation of Iranian steps, still incomplete, to clarify concerns about its nuclear program.
