U.N. Official to Visit Iran to Discuss Nuclear Concerns

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, will visit Iran next week amid mounting pressure on the Islamic Republic to accept tougher inspections of its nuclear sites, the U.N. agency confirmed Tuesday.

The United Nations, the United States, Russia and the European Union have all urged Tehran to allow more intrusive, short-notice nuclear inspections, after an IAEA report criticized Iran last month for failing to fully report its atomic activities.

Meanwhile, Russia said Tuesday that it expected to sign a deal soon that would clear the way for nuclear fuel exports to Iran, part of a contract between Moscow and Tehran to jointly build the republic’s first atomic plant.

Although it is pressing Tehran to agree to more stringent IAEA inspections, Russia has dismissed U.S. concerns over its nuclear cooperation with Tehran.

An IAEA spokeswoman said ElBaradei would “discuss all outstanding issues, particularly those identified in his recent report to the board of governors and in the chairman’s statement from that meeting.”

The IAEA’s 35-nation board of governors criticized Iran’s failure to comply with safeguard agreements designed to prevent the use of civilian nuclear resources to make atomic weapons.

Khalil Mousavi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said Iranian officials would meet with ElBaradei and “discuss ways to expand cooperation.”

Mousavi declined to comment on whether greater cooperation would lead to Iran’s signing an additional protocol to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty that would allow fuller inspections of its nuclear facilities.

Iran is a signatory to the treaty but has so far resisted calls to sign the protocol, saying sanctions barring the transfer of technology to Tehran must first be lifted.

“I don’t think ElBaradei’s visit is a step toward signing the additional protocol,” said a senior European diplomat. But, the diplomat added, “I think they are considering it seriously and considering what they can get in exchange.”

ElBaradei said last month that he planned to travel to Tehran for technical discussions on Iran’s uranium enrichment program and to conduct more environmental sampling.

He also said he hoped Tehran would clarify its programs for making uranium metal, which has few civilian uses but is a key ingredient for nuclear bombs and a heavy-water reactor from which weapons-grade plutonium can be more easily extracted.

Mousavi said that ElBaradei would stay in Iran for one day but that an accompanying delegation “might stay longer and might visit Iran’s nuclear facilities.”

Iran says a nuclear power station being built with Russian help near the western port of Bushehr, along with at least two other facilities, would be used for peaceful purposes.

Washington has accused Tehran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, and it questions why Iran, OPEC’s second-largest oil producer and holder of the world’s second-largest gas reserves, would want nuclear energy.