IRAN: The six NAM diplomats accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog, visited Iranian nuclear site on Saturday

As part of Tehran's bid to be open about its disputed atomic programme, it gave a tour of one of its nuclear sites on Saturday (February 3) to envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations. Among the things they were shown were UN surveillance cameras at the site. The six NAM diplomats, accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited the site near the central Iranian city of Isfahan that converts uranium ore into feedstock uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas. About 90 Iranian and foreign journalists were also shown round the site, where employees in white overalls and face masks feed uranium "yellow cake" into a conversion line. "We explained that all of these facilities are under the basis of the safety guidelines of IAEA," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's IAEA envoy, said during the tour. Soltanieh said the trip showed Iran's "transparency" and pointed out two IAEA cameras to monitor work in a room were UF6 is produced at the site, situated in a barren area southeast of Isfahan and surrounded by anti-aircraft guns. The United States accuses Iran of secretly working to make atomic bombs under cover of a civilian nuclear programme to generate electricity. It has said putting Iran's nuclear activities on display would not build confidence abroad. The envoys, who stay in Iran until Monday (February 5), are not due to visit the Natanz uranium enrichment site where UF6 gas is fed into centrifuges to make power plant fuel or, if greatly enriched, material for warheads. The group comprises ambassadors from Egypt, Malaysia, Cuba, Algeria and Sudan, and a Syrian representing the Arab League. The IAEA says it needs more information about Iran's atomic work before it can give a clean bill of health and has urged Iran to reconsider a move to bar 38 out of 200 inspectors whose role is to check whether materials are diverted to bomb making. Iran blocked the inspectors after the United Nations penalised Tehran last month for refusing to halt enrichment. The UN sanctions bar the transfer of sensitive materials and know-how to Iran's nuclear programme. The six envoys are due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, before they leave.

ITN Source | February 4, 2007

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