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UN Nuclear Watchdog’s chief Mohamad ElBaradei is set to discuss dates and conditions for IAEA access to the newly revealed site of Iran’s second uranium enrichment facility located in a mountain near Qom.
The recent revelation of the existence of the facility comes as shock to the world as Iran sat down to talk with world powers over its nuclear programme only days ago in Geneva.
US President Barack Obama has urged the country to give the UN agency “unfettered access” within two weeks. Iran agreed to co-operate “fully and immediately” on the enrichment facility in Qom.
The IAEA chief will reach Tehran this Saturday. Officials claim ElBaradei will also meet head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organisation Ali Akbar Salehi.
While Tehran insists it has the right to develop nuclear energy, the revelation of the second uranium enrichment facility has heightened fears among developed nations, notably in the West, that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The last meeting between Iran and the five Security Council members plus Germany was the first since July 2008. It was here in the latest meeting that the startling revelation was made.
The American President said on Thursday that it expected Tehran to take “constructive actions” to convince the world that its nuclear programme is not aimed at making nuclear weapons of mass destruction.
The two sides will also meet for further talks this October.
