IAEA Inspectors Arrive In Iran
Monday, February 20, 2012 at 3:46 am
A high-ranking delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has arrived in the Iranian capital Tehran for talks on further cooperation. Chief inspector Herman Nackaerts said his team’s “highest priority” was to clarify the “possible military dimensions” of the nuclear programme.
It is the second visit to Iran by an IAEA team in the last three weeks. After the first, the inspection team praised the meetings but said there was “still a lot of work to be done” to ease fears over Iran’s nuclear activities. Iran says it is producing enriched uranium to fuel civilian power plants and has refused international demands to halt its production.
“We hope to have a couple of good and constructive days in Tehran,” Herman Nackaerts, deputy-director general of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said at Vienna airport as the five-member team prepared to depart.
Tensions have risen over speculation that Israel may carry out a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it is up to Iran to disprove the allegation. In November 2011, the UN nuclear regulatory body released a controversial report, claiming that, prior to 2003, Iran had conducted activities related to the development of nuclear weapons.
Iran denies Western allegations that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons but its refusal to curb uranium enrichment work, which it says is for civilian purposes, has raised concerns. Iran exports 2.2 million barrels of oil a day, 18% of which is bound for European markets, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Iran is forging ahead with that program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes, despite international sanctions and threats of an Israeli military strike. The European Union in January decided to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1 over its nuclear programme.
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