UN inspectors begin two-day Iran visit

TEHRAN, Iran -- United Nations nuclear inspectors starting a two-day visit here yesterday sought to meet Iranian nuclear scientists and visit a key military facility as they try to gauge allegations that Iran is pushing toward making an atomic weapon.

It is the second trip in less than a month by the International Atomic Energy Agency team, reflecting growing concerns over alleged weapons experiments, which Iran has both denied and refused to discuss.

Herman Nackaerts, a senior UN nuclear official, said in Vienna before the team left on Sunday that he hoped for progress in the talks but his careful choice of words suggested little expectation of success.

The visit came as Iran announced air defense war games to practice protecting nuclear and other sensitive sites, the latest in a series of military maneuvers viewed as a message to the West that Iran is prepared both to defend itself against an armed strike and to retaliate.

The United States and Israel have not ruled out military action against Iran over its nuclear program, which they say is aimed toward making weapons.

Iran's state radio said yesterday the IAEA inspectors had requested to visit Parchin, a site near Tehran suspected of housing a secret underground facility for Iran's nuclear program.

IAEA inspectors visited the site in 2005, but went to only one of four areas of potential interest within the grounds.

At the time, the nuclear watchdog did not report any unusual activities but the Parchin site was prominently mentioned in the agency's report last year.

The IAEA visit comes after Iran announced last week what it described as key advancements in its nuclear program, inserting the first domestically made fuel rod into a research reactor in Tehran and installing a new generation of Iran-made centrifuges at the country's main uranium enrichment facility in the central town of Natanz.