IAEA Says Iran Lifts Ban On Nuclear-Site Visits

Iran's Arak facility (file photo) (Fars) July 13, 2007 -- The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says Iran has lifted its ban on visits to a nuclear facility by UN experts.

The IAEA said Iran would now allow its inspectors to visit the Arak reactor this month.

"It is the beginning of a process," IAEA Director-General Muhammad el-Baradei told journalists in Vienna today. "I think we made some progress on some issues, like visiting some facilities where the Iranians were reluctant for us to visit, this heavy-water research reactor we will being going to. They accepted an additional designation of inspectors. They have accepted that we -- agreed on a meeting in August to look into this issue of plutonium experiments there."

"We are [slowly moving] forward," he added. "We are on the right track, but it all depends on how much cooperation and transparency we will get from Iran."

IThe IAEA also said Tehran was ready to answer outstanding questions on past experiments that Western powers fear could be linked to a weapons program.

The IAEA said the agreements came during a visit by the agency's deputy director, Olli Heinonen, to Tehran this week.

(Reuters, AP, AFP)

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