A United Nations team visiting Iran have no plans to inspect the country’s nuclear facilities but will only hold talks with officials in Teheran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday.
Talks by IAEA experts in Iran are aimed to accelerate cooperation with the UN watchdog
Ramin Mehmanparast said the experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency are holding discussions in the capital to “accelerate” co-operation with the UN watchdog. He added that co-operation is at its “best” level.
The two-day IAEA visit, which started yesterday, is the second UN team amid growing concerns over alleged Iranian weapons experiments.
Yesterday, Iranian radio said the UN team had asked to visit a military complex outside Teheran which is suspected to be a secret weapons-making location.
Iran denies charges by the West that it is developing nuclear weapons.
State broadcaster AzTV, quoting the National Security Ministry, said police had detained people linked to Iranian intelligence services and Hezbollah who intended to stage attacks on foreign citizens in the country.
The report said the suspects had gathered intelligence on targets and bought explosives, guns and ammunition, but gave no further details.
The reported arrests come after a car bomb last week critically injured an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi while Georgian officials defused a second device in Tbilisi. A suspected Iranian bomber had his legs blown off as he hurled a grenade at Thai police. Israel blamed Iran for the attacks which came at a time of heightened tensions over Teheran’s nuclear programme. A senior Israeli official involved in counter-terrorism warned on Friday that Iran and Hezbollah were planning to carry outnew anti-Israeli attacks around the world after the incidents in India, Thailand and Georgia.
Police in mainly Muslim but officially secular Azerbaijan last month also arrested two men with alleged links to Iranian intelligence on suspicion of plotting to kill prominent Israelis in Azerbaijan. The allegations infuriated Teheran, which sent a diplomatic note of protest accusing Baku of collaborating with Israel’s spy services and helping assassins who have killed Iranian nuclear scientists.