UN inspectors in Iran

TEHRAN – Two UN nuclear inspectors began a trip to Iran yesterday to visit a uranium enrichment facility where Tehran announced it had begun industrial atomic work in defiance of UN demands to stop.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said at the Natanz site in central Iran on Monday that scientists had started to make nuclear fuel on an industrial-scale, expanding work that has already prompted two UN sanctions resolutions. Western nations fear Iran may divert its atomic work towards a covert military programme to build bombs.Iran denies this and says it wants reactor fuel only to generate electricity.Russia said it had no evidence Iran had made any technological breakthroughs to allow it to enrich uranium on an industrial scale.The semi-official Fars news agency said the IAEA inspectors would stay in Iran for one week.An Iranian official confirmed the inspectors’ arrival to Reuters and said they were on a routine visit.Inspectors from the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), routinely visit Natanz and other declared nuclear sites but Tehran halted more intrusive snap checks last year when its case was sent to the UN Security Council.Iranian officials said on Monday Iran had started injecting gas into a batch of 3 000 atomic centrifuges being installed at Natanz.They gave no figures for the number of machines set up and running, saying UN inspectors would confirm numbers.The inspectors’ report, likely to emerge after their visit ends, could provide the first independent confirmation about Iran’s declared progress which Russia questioned yesterday.”We are not aware of any technological breakthroughs in the Iranian nuclear programme recently which would change the nature of work on enrichment being carried out in the country,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.”We are clarifying the situation, including in contact with experts from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.”For now we do not have confirmation that actual enrichment has begun on the new centrifuges.”Analysts say Iran has made grand claims in the past about its achievements to strengthen its bargaining hand with the West but has glossed over technical glitches.Iranian officials said on Tuesday the West should take account of Iran’s progress.Nampa-ReutersWestern nations fear Iran may divert its atomic work towards a covert military programme to build bombs.Iran denies this and says it wants reactor fuel only to generate electricity.Russia said it had no evidence Iran had made any technological breakthroughs to allow it to enrich uranium on an industrial scale.The semi-official Fars news agency said the IAEA inspectors would stay in Iran for one week.An Iranian official confirmed the inspectors’ arrival to Reuters and said they were on a routine visit.Inspectors from the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), routinely visit Natanz and other declared nuclear sites but Tehran halted more intrusive snap checks last year when its case was sent to the UN Security Council.Iranian officials said on Monday Iran had started injecting gas into a batch of 3 000 atomic centrifuges being installed at Natanz.They gave no figures for the number of machines set up and running, saying UN inspectors would confirm numbers.The inspectors’ report, likely to emerge after their visit ends, could provide the first independent confirmation about Iran’s declared progress which Russia questioned yesterday.”We are not aware of any technological breakthroughs in the Iranian nuclear programme recently which would change the nature of work on enrichment being carried out in the country,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.”We are clarifying the situation, including in contact with experts from the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency),” said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.”For now we do not have confirmation that actual enrichment has begun on the new centrifuges.”Analysts say Iran has made grand claims in the past about its achievements to strengthen its bargaining hand with the West but has glossed over technical glitches.Iranian officials said on Tuesday the West should take account of Iran’s progress.Nampa-Reuters