Tehran, Jan 13(ANI): A U.N. nuclear agency team will visit Iran on January 28 after the country agreed for the first time to discuss allegations that it is involved in a secret operation to develop nuclear weapons.
The move comes after diplomats had earlier indicated that the International Atomic Energy Agency officials were discussing undertaking such a trip with their Iranian counterparts.
Iran has thwarted earlier IAEA attempts to find out about its alleged secret nuclear work, and stressed that all its nuclear activities were undertaken for peaceful purposes.
The IAEA had subsequently told Iran for the first time in November 2011, that some of its alleged nuclear experiments were aimed at developing weapons, and substantiated its claim on the basis of information gathered from over 1,000 pages of intelligence.
The IAEA trip to discuss allegations regarding the secret Iranian nuclear operation marks a break from the past and has kindled hopes of resolving a deadlock in the investigation.
Iran's chief IAEA delegate Ali Asghar Soltanieh refused to divulge the topic of discussions saying it is too early to make the details public, Fox News reports.
The composition of the IAEA team, comprising not only Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts but also Assistant Director General Rafael Grossi, the right-hand man to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano, and senior legal official Peri Lynne Johnson indicates the importance attached by the agency to the visit.
The visit comes in the wake of the IAEA confirming that Iran is increasing the production of uranium.
The U.S. has called on Iran to halt its uranium enrichment programme also but the latter has repeatedly insisted that its programme aims to generate electricity rather than waging a war.
Uranium enriched to high levels can be used as a material for a nuclear warhead.(ANI)
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