Diplomats from six world powers offered Iran new proposals today to ease international concerns about its nuclear programme, but appeared to reject Tehran’s appeals to ease economic sanctions.

UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran today in the latest push to hold talks about how far the country’s controversial nuclear programme has come.

Iran has granted UN nuclear inspectors access to a high-security military site as part of efforts to avoid being brought before the UN Security Council, diplomats said today.

The US expressed alarm today about a possible Iranian nuclear weapons related test site and accused the UN nuclear watchdog agency of keeping silent on its own concerns about the issue.