Nuclear Inspectors Arrive in Iran
TEHRAN — Days after Iran said it had stopped building centrifuges, U.N. nuclear inspectors arrived Monday to try to confirm that claim and resolve concerns that the nation has a covert atomic weapons program.
Despite calls by some Iranians who want Tehran to expel the inspectors and resume uranium enrichment, Iran’s government appears determined to stick to a more moderate approach in the hope of avoiding international isolation.
The United States and other nations accuse Iran of having a covert arms program and are pushing the United Nations to impose sanctions. Tehran insists that its nuclear program is peaceful and its purpose is to produce energy, not weapons.
Mohammed Saeedi, a top Iranian nuclear official, said the experts from the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency had arrived for meetings and inspections.
Earlier, Saeedi said that to win “greater international trust,” Iran stopped building and assembling centrifuges Friday as it promised during a one-day visit last week by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei.
It was the second such promise. On March 29, Iran said that it had already stopped building centrifuges for uranium enrichment.
ElBaradei had welcomed the centrifuge announcement and said inspectors would try to verify that all uranium enrichment activities had stopped.
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