UN inspectors arrive in Iran seeking nuclear programme transparency

Senior UN inspectors arrived in Iran yesterday to push for transparency about its disputed nuclear programme, and several European states halted purchases of Iranian oil as part of Western moves to pile pressure on a defiant Tehran.

Iran denies Western accusations that it is covertly seeking the means to build nuclear weapons and has again vowed no nuclear retreat in recent weeks, but also voiced willingness to resume negotiations with world powers without preconditions.

The five-member International Atomic Energy Agency team, led by chief IAEA inspector Herman Nackaerts, planned two days of meetings in another attempt to get answers from Iran regarding intelligence suggesting its declared civilian nuclear energy programme is a facade for researching ways to make atom bombs.

Nackaerts said on departure from Vienna that he wanted “concrete results” from the talks. His delegation was expected to seek, among other things, to question Iranian nuclear scientists and visit the Parchin military base believed to have been used for high-explosive tests relevant to nuclear warheads.

However, foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi dampened speculation about increased IAEA access when he told the student news agency ISNA that the agency officials would not be going to any nuclear sites. “No. Their work has just begun,” Salehi said.

Diplomats doubted that the talks would bring a breakthrough.

“I believe most are rather sceptical concerning the outcome because, well, Iran had a chance at the last meeting and didn’t seize it,” a senior Western official said, referring to the last trip by the senior IAEA team to Tehran at the end of January.

Referring to last week’s announcements by Iran of new nuclear advances, he said: “They send out the wrong signals that Iran is really willing to cooperate . . . We will wait and see what will come out of this meeting but we should be prepared that Iran might try some technical steps . . . to appear cooperative without really providing necessary cooperation.”

The outcome of the talks will have diplomatic repercussions because it could either deepen a stand-off that has stoked fears of war or provide scope to ease tensions.

In a sign of Iranian concern about possible, last-resort air strikes by arch-enemies Israel or the US, Tehran yesterday began a four-day military exercise in protecting its nuclear sites, according to Iranian media.