Iran said to hide nuclear site as UN deadline nears

An Iranian opposition group with a proven track record said yesterday Iran was hiding another atomic facility, just two weeks before a UN deadline for Tehran to come clean about its nuclear ambitions.

The October 31 deadline, set by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency in a tough resolution last month, requires Tehran to prove it has no secret weapons programme as Washington alleges, or face possible UN Security Council sanctions.

"We have information about another secret nuclear facility in Iran," an official from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an exiled opposition group, told Reuters in Vienna. He said the facility has been hidden from IAEA inspectors.

He gave no details about the site, but said the NCRI would provide full details today.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes and did not comment on the fresh allegations.

But separately, Iran said IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei would visit Tehran for talks on Thursday.

In August 2002, the NCRI broke the news of two undeclared nuclear sites in Iran - a massive uranium-enrichment complex at Natanz and a heavy-water production facility at Arak.

Tehran later declared these facilities to the IAEA, which has since placed surveillance cameras at Natanz.

In an e-mailed statement, the NCRI also said it would provide information on Iran's use of foreign technology in its atomic programme and details about the Kalaye Electric Co., where UN inspectors found traces of weapons-grade uranium.

UN inspectors arrived in Iran two weeks ago and President Mohammad Khatami has said Tehran would provide all cooperation needed to prove its nuclear aims are limited to generating electricity and not making a nuclear bomb, as Washington claims.