IAEA confirms Iran's halt to nuclear activity

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Experts from the UN nuclear watchdog have inspected an underground uranium enrichment plant in Iran and verified that the country has kept its word by freezing all sensitive nuclear work there. READ MORE

A team from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) went to the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz in central Iran on Thursday.

Although it was briefly barred from one part of Natanz, the team eventually got in and was able to verify that no activities related to enrichment were under way.

"The IAEA went to Natanz and, among other things, verified the suspension," a Western diplomat familiar with the IAEA's investigation of Iran said on condition of anonymity.

The agency was expected to inform the IAEA's 35-member board of governors at next week's quarterly meeting that Iran had kept its promise about halting sensitive work.

Iran has temporarily stopped its enrichment program, which could produce fuel for power plants or weapons, under a November deal with France, Britain and Germany.

The three nations have offered Iran incentives to end and dismantle the program.

The European trio shares the US's suspicions that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons and is determined to prevent it from mastering the science of enriching uranium.

Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, has said the freeze at Natanz and elsewhere would last only until the end of July, when the European Union trio has promised to give Iran a detailed package of incentives.

But the EU has said that resuming enrichment at Natanz, which is still under construction, would make it back US calls to refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Access problems

One diplomat with access to Iran's nuclear program said the inspection team ran into problems when it tried to visit one facility at the 450-hectare Natanz site because the Iranians refused to grant the inspectors access.

"The team that got to Natanz is having a lot of trouble there," a diplomat told Reuters on Thursday night.

"The Iranians are very strictly limiting their access."

The problem related to one specific facility at the site and, after a delay of several hours, the situation was resolved and the team was let in.

"It's in Iran's interest to welcome the inspectors at suspicious sites like Natanz," said former UN arms inspector David Albright, head of a Washington-based think-tank.

"There's no point in being legalistic. It creates needless suspicions."

During the IAEA's two-year investigation of Iran's nuclear program, the IAEA and members of its board of governors have repeatedly criticised Iran for not showing full transparency or granting complete and immediate access to some sites.