UN nuclear inspectors in Iran to try to probe suspect site

IAEA delegation arrives to discuss 'unresolved issues' surrounding a military site near Iraqi border

By AP and ToI Staff 15 April 2015, 2:49 pm
A worker rides a bicycle in front of the reactor building of the Bushehr nuclear power plant, just outside the southern city of Bushehr, Iran, on October 26, 2010. (AP/Mehr News Agency, Majid Asgaripour, File)

UN nuclear inspectors are in Iran on a long-stalled visit meant to investigate suspicions that Tehran worked on nuclear weapons, a charge the Islamic Republic denies.

The official IRNA news agency is quoting Iranian nuclear spokesman Behrouz Kamalvandi as saying that inspectors from the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss “unresolved issues” surrounding a military site in Marivan, in western Iran.

A 2011 IAEA report indicated that large-scale high-explosive experiments were conducted in Marivan, near the Iraqi border.

Talks with the IAEA are parallel to Iran’s nuclear negotiations with world powers seeking a permanent agreement on curbing the country’s nuclear activities by June 30 in return for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State John Kerry said that he was still confident that the US could successfully negotiate a nuclear deal with Iran even after President Barack Obama agreed to sign legislation giving Congress the right to reject an agreement.

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