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IAEA chief set to visit Iran

Atul Aneja

DUBAI: Iranian officials and head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Mohamed ElBaradei are slated to hold talks later this week in Teheran amid growing tension between the West and Iran over its nuclear programme.

Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted an unnamed official as saying, "Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit Iran either on Sunday or the day after, and the trip is within the framework of Iran's cooperation and consultation with the IAEA."

He added: "[Mr.] ElBaradei will hold talks with a number of the Iranian officials during his stay and Iran's outstanding issues with the IAEA will be discussed."

At the IAEA headquarters in Vienna, agency reports quoted a diplomat as saying Mr. ElBaradei would be in Iran "to meet with senior officials for discussions related to outstanding safeguard verification issues and other confidence building measures requested by the IAEA Board of Governors."

Meanwhile, IAEA inspectors have already arrived to visit Iran's uranium enrichment facility and other sites.

In a non-binding statement, the U.N. Security Council on March 29 urged Iran to suspend all its enrichment-related activities in 30 days. Iran has rejected the proposal and had announced earlier that it intended to conduct small-scale enrichment for research purposes on its soil, under IAEA supervision.

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