Iran said to allow UN agency inspection
VIENNA -- Iran has agreed to give the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency a new look at a military complex linked by the United States to possible atomic arms research, diplomats said yesterday.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said no date for the inspection had been set. But one of them suggested that it could come before the planned Feb. 28 meeting of the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN watchdog investigating Tehran's nuclear activities.
One diplomat said the Iranians gave their ''agreement in principle" about 10 days ago.
IAEA inspectors last visited the Parchin complex outside Tehran in mid-January, searching for radiation that could point to such research. Diplomats accredited to the agency or familiar with its work said the inspectors were given partial access to the site and were allowed to take environmental samples for analysis.
Washington has accused Iran of being part of an ''axis of evil" with North Korea and prewar Iraq. The United States alleges that Iran may be testing high- explosive components for nuclear weapons, using an inert core of depleted uranium at Parchin as a dry run for a bomb that would use fissile material.
Diplomats last month said that as far as they knew, the IAEA specialists were not impeded during their first visit, beyond the limitations placed on where they could take their samples.
But one diplomat said the fact that the agency had requested new access to another part of the site suggested that questions remained about the nature of the work conducted at Parchin.
In leaks to news media last year, US intelligence officials said a specially secured site at Parchin may be used in research for high-explosive components of nuclear weapons.
Iran says its military is not involved in nuclear activities, and the IAEA has found no firm evidence to the contrary. The agency also has not been able to support US claims that nearly two decades of covert programs discovered over two years ago were aimed at making nuclear arms.
But an IAEA report in October expressed concern about published intelligence and media reports relating to equipment and materials that could serve military purposes. 