DUBAI/VIENNA, Jan 28 (Reuters) – U.N. nuclear inspectors arrived in Iran on Tuesday to visit a uranium mine, Iranian media reported, as part of a cooperation pact meant to help allay international concern about the country’s nuclear programme.
Wednesday’s planned inspection of the Gchine mine in southern Iran will be the first by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at this site since 2005.
Allowing the U.N. nuclear agency – which is investigating allegations that Iran has carried out atomic bomb research – to go to Gchine was among six concrete steps Iran agreed to under the Nov. 11 agreement with the IAEA.
“The inspectors have arrived in Tehran to make a visit to Gchine mine,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation, was quoted as saying by Fars News Agency.The IAEA was not immediately available for a comment. Its director-general said last week that the Gchine visit would take place “in coming days”.