Iran confirms increase in IAEA nuclear inspections
Iran’s nuclear chief says ‘it is natural’ to increase the number of inspections with an increase to capacity and nuclear activities
Iran confirmed on Saturday that it has allowed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to increase the number of inspections it carries out into Tehran’s nuclear programme, state media reported.
“We have increased capacity – it is natural that the number of inspections should also increase,” the official IRNA news agency quoted the country’s nuclear chief Mohammad Eslami as saying.
“When we carry out nuclear activities, and where we deal with nuclear materials, changing the scale will naturally change the monitoring level,” he added.
Eslami’s comments came after an IAEA report that Iran had agreed to increased monitoring.
“Iran agreed to the agency’s request to increase the frequency and intensity of the implementation of safeguard measures at Fordo enrichment plant” south of Tehran, the IAEA report said.
Last week the UN nuclear watchdog said Iran had revamped Fordo so it could “significantly increase the rate of production of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent”, close to the 90 per cent needed to make a nuclear weapon.
Iran insists on its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, and denies it is seeking an atomic weapons capability.
