IAEA urgently seeks access to key site in Iran

International nuclear inspectors are urgently seeking access to a key site in Iran because of signs of recent activity there, a senior official of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Wednesday, according to diplomats.

The IAEA's chief inspector Herman Nackaerts and his team returned from Tehran last weak without having been allowed to visit the site at Parchin, a military installation where a nuclear explosion has allegedly been simulated, DPA reported.

Nackaerts told diplomats in Vienna that the IAEA has been monitoring the site with satellites, and that there might be activities there which add urgency to a need for a visit, the diplomats said after the closed-door briefing.

Nackaerts did not specifiy the nature of the activities. He could have referred either to efforts to clean up Parchin before inspectors visit, or to nuclear-related projects, they said.


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