The European Union said today that world powers have agreed to a new round of talks with Iran over its nuclear programme, as Tehran gave permission for inspectors to visit a site suspected of secret atomic work.

Iran has said it will allow UN inspectors access to a secret military complex where the UN nuclear agency suspects atomic work has been carried out.

The head of the UN nuclear agency has “serious concerns” that Iran may be hiding secret atomic weapons work and admits he failed in his latest attempt to unearth them.

Iran is poised to greatly expand uranium enrichment at a fortified underground bunker to a point that would boost how quickly it could make nuclear warheads, diplomats said.

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak has said the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a “surgical” military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

A senior UN nuclear agency team will visit Tehran on January 28, with Iran saying it is ready to discuss allegations that it was involved in secret nuclear weapons work, diplomats said today.

The UN nuclear chief says it is his duty to “alert the world” about suspected work in Iran to develop atomic bombs, as major powers prepared to intensify the pressure on theIslamic state.

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the head of the UN’s nuclear agency an American pawn in the run-up to the release of evidence claiming to reveal Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme.

The UN atomic agency plans to reveal intelligence next week suggesting Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and other previously undisclosed details on alleged secret work by Tehran on nuclear arms, diplomats said.

The UN nuclear agency has said it is “increasingly concerned” about a stream of intelligence information suggesting that Iran continues to work secretly on developing a nuclear payload for a missile and other components of a nuclear weapons programme.

The head of the UN nuclear agency has urged a worldwide rethink of safety measures to prevent new nuclear disasters.

The UN nuclear watchdog voted today to report Syria to the UN Security Council for violating its safeguard agreements, citing Syria’s undeclared construction of a covert nuclear reactor and refusal to supply information.

In a major turnaround, Syria is pledging full co-operation with United Nations attempts to probe strong evidence that it secretly built a reactor that could have been used to make nuclear weapons, according to a secret document.

THE World Health Organisation says radiation in food after an earthquake damaged a Japanese nuclear plant was more serious than previously thought, eclipsing signs of progress in a battle to avert a catastrophic meltdown in its reactors.

SIRENS wailed along a devastated coastline to mark exactly one week since an earthquake and tsunami triggered a nuclear emergency, and the government acknowledged it was slow to respond to the disasters that the prime minister called a “great test for the Japanese people.”

Emergency crews are still battling to cool overheated nuclear fuel at a stricken nuclear plant a week after the devastating earthquake and tsunami struck Japan.

The Japanese government says it was overwhelmed by the scale of to the huge earthquake and tsunami, slowing the response to the nuclear crisis.

Japan reached out today to the US for help in reining in the crisis at its dangerously overheated nuclear complex, while the UN atomic energy chief called the disaster a race against the clock that demands global cooperation.

The situation at Japan’s stricken nuclear plant is “very serious,” but does not appear to be deteriorating, says a senior official of the UN atomic agency.

The head of the UN atomic agency has left for Tokyo to assess the nuclear crisis unleashed by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan’s north-eastern coast.

A NEARLY completed new power line could restore cooling systems in Japan’s tsunami-crippled nuclear power plant, its operator said, raising some hope of easing the crisis that has threatened a meltdown and already spawned dangerous radiation surges.

Emergency workers forced to retreat from the wrecked Japanese nuclear power plant by soaring radiation levels were able to go back in tonight, but the delay could prove catastrophic.

ENGINEERS in Japan are battling to prevent a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant, after a third explosion occurred at a fresh reactor late last night.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency says he cannot guarantee that Iran is not trying to develop atomic arms.

The US, Britain and France expressed growing concern today that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme and developing ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency made a dangerous mistake by criticising Iran for not fully co-operating with it, Tehran’s nuclear chief said today.

Iran was urged by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today to co-operate with the nuclear watchdog agency.

The chief UN nuclear inspector warned today he could not confirm that all of Iran’s nuclear activities are peaceful because Tehran is not fully co-operating with his inspectors.

Monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities is being hampered because Tehran objects to giving some UN atomic agency inspectors access to its programme, the body said today.

Iran submitted a plan to swap some of its enriched uranium for reactor fuel in a bid to to evade new United Nations sanctions and said the onus was on world powers to defuse tensions by accepting the deal.

Iran formally put forward its uranium swap deal today in an attempt to avoid new UN sanctions.

Poor countries should be helped to build their own nuclear power stations to help fight climate change, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said today.

IRAN’S supreme leader and armed forces commander-in-chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said yesterday the country does not believe in and is not seeking atomic weapons, state television reported.

The United Nations nuclear agency said it feared Iran may presently be working on making a nuclear warhead, suggesting for the first time that Tehran had either resumed such work or never stopped at the time US intelligence thought it did.

Japan, the only nation to suffer atomic bombings, welcomed the appointment of one of their own to head the top nuclear watchdog and expressed hopes for a world without nuclear weapons.

A stand-off pitting Iran against most others delegations at a 130-nation nuclear conference deepened today, with organisers adjourning the third straight session in as many days without breaking a deadlock over the language of the meeting’s agenda.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei said today he thinks the US will need to give Iran a security guarantee before a final agreement can be reached regarding the country’s atomic programme.

Nuclear watchdog agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei warned today in accepting the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize that humanity faces a choice between nuclear weapons and survival.