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IAEA NUCLEAR INSPECTORS BEGIN IRAN VISIT
** IAEA visit coincides with planned debate in Iran's parliament over cutting flow of crude to Europe in retaliation for sanctions **
Assicoated Press
January 29, 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/29/iaea-nuclear-inspectors-iran-visit
TEHRAN -- U.N. nuclear inspectors began a critical mission to Iran on Sunday to investigate allegations that the country has a secret atomic weapons program.
The three-day visit comes amid escalating Western economic pressures and warnings about safeguarding Gulf oil shipments from possible Iranian blockades.
The findings of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) team could greatly influence the direction and urgency of U.S.-led efforts to rein in Iran's ability to enrich uranium, which Washington and its allies fear could eventually produce weapons-grade material.
Iran has refused to abandon its enrichment program, saying it only wants the material to generate electricity and for medical research.
The IAEA team is likely to visit an underground enrichment site near the holy city of Qom, 80 miles south of Tehran, which is carved into a mountain as protection from possible airstrikes.
Earlier this month, Iran said it had begun enrichment work at the site, which is far smaller than the country's main facilities but is reported to have more advanced equipment.
The U.N. delegation includes two senior weapons experts -- Jacques Baute of France and Neville Whiting of South Africa -- suggesting that Iran may be prepared to address some issues related to the allegations that it seeks to build nuclear warheads.
In unusually blunt comments ahead of his arrival, the IAEA's deputy director general Herman Nackaerts -- who is in charge of the agency's Iran file -- said he wanted Tehran to "engage us on all concerns."
Iran has refused to discuss alleged weapons experiments for three years, saying they are based on "fabricated documents" provided by a "few arrogant countries" -- a phrase authorities in Iran often use to refer to the U.S. and its allies.
"So we're looking forward to the start of a dialogue," Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport. "A dialogue that is overdue since very long."
In a sign of the tensions that surround Iran's nuclear intentions, a dozen Iranians carrying photos of assassinated nuclear expert Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan were waiting at Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport early on Sunday.
Iranian state media say that Roshan, a chemistry expert and director of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in central Iran, was interviewed by IAEA inspectors before being killed earlier this month in a targeted bomb attack -- part of what Tehran says is a covert Israeli-led campaign of sabotage and killings. Roshan was at least the fourth member of Iran's scientific community to be killed in apparent assassinations.
The IAEA said it did not know Roshan and has never talked to him.
The U.N. team will be looking for permission to talk to key Iranian scientists suspected of working on a weapons program. They also plan to inspect documents related to nuclear work and secure commitments from Iranian authorities to allow future visits. It is unclear how much assistance Iran will provide, but even a decision to enter into a discussion over the allegations would be a major departure from Iran's frequent simple refusal to talk.
Iran has also accused the IAEA in the past of security leaks that expose its scientists and their families to the threat of assassination by the U.S. and Israel.
The visit coincides with a planned debate in Iran's parliament over whether to cut the flow of crude oil to Europe with immediate effect in retaliation for sanctions. The E.U. last week announced an embargo on Iranian oil that is set to take full effect in July.
The head of Iran's state oil company said on Sunday that pressures on Iran's oil exports -- the second biggest in Opec -- could drive prices as high as $150 a barrel.
"It seems we will witness prices from $120 to $150 in the future," Ahmad Qalehbani was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying. He did not give a timeframe for his prediction, nor any other details.
The price of benchmark U.S. crude was $99.56 per barrel on Friday. About 80% of Iran's foreign revenue comes from exporting around 2.2m barrels of oil a day.
Oil prices have been driven higher in recent weeks by Iran's warnings that it could block the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the export route for around 20% of the world's oil. Last week, the U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln entered the Gulf along with French and British warships in a show of strength against any attempts to disrupt oil tanker traffic.
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U.N. NUCLEAR WATCHDOG OFFICIALS VISIT IRAN
AFP
January 30, 2012
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/un-nuclear-watchdog-official-visit-iran/story-e6frg6so-1226256915433
U.N. atomic watchdog officials began a visit to Iran on to discuss Tehran's suspect nuclear drive, as Iranian leaders held off on retaliatory action against a looming E.U. oil embargo.
The three-day International Atomic Energy Agency mission is to address evidence suggesting Iran's activities include nuclear weapons research.
The visit was seen as a rare opportunity to maybe alleviate a building international showdown over Iran's nuclear programme that has seen a ratcheting up of sanctions and talk of possible Israeli military action.
"In particular we hope that Iran will engage with us on the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program," Herman Nackaerts, the IAEA's chief inspector leading the delegation, told reporters in Vienna as he left.
"We are looking forward to the start of a dialogue, a dialogue that is overdue since very long."
Iran's parliamentary speaker, Ali Larijani, called the visit a "test" for the U.N. agency, according to the website of the official IRIB state broadcaster.
If the IAEA officials were "professional," then "the path for cooperation will open up," he said.
"But if they deviate and become a tool (of the West), then the Islamic Republic will be forced to reflect and consider a new framework" for cooperation, Larijani added.
Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi welcomed the visit.
"I'm hopeful and very optimistic about this trip of the high delegation of the IAEA to Iran," he told reporters in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit.
"Right from the beginning we have indicated explicitly, expressed explicitly, that Iran is never, ever after nuclear weapons," he said.
Iran, which maintains its program is exclusively for peaceful purposes, is increasingly furious at Western measures aimed at making it halt uranium enrichment.
It has defiantly stepped up enrichment at a new bomb-proof bunker in Fordo near the Shiite holy city of Qom.
It has also reacted fiercely to new sanctions targeting its oil and finance sectors, notably the European Union's announcement of a ban on all Iranian oil imports within the next five months.
But Iranian lawmakers delayed taking action on a proposed bill to immediately cut oil exports to Europe in retaliation for the E.U. embargo.
"No bill has been designed nor has it come to the parliament," energy commission spokesman Emad Hosseini told Mehr news agency, adding that he hoped negotiations on preparing the bill would be finalised before Friday.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told *Welt am Sonntag* newspaper the E.U. was resolute on preventing Iran "acquiring an atomic weapon."
"We will find ways in the E.U. to compensate for delivery stoppages" of oil, he said.
Iran, OPEC's second-biggest producer, has repeatedly brandished threats to use oil as a weapon if it is backed up against the wall.
Officials have warned they could even close the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint at the entrance to the Gulf, in a move analysts say could send oil prices soaring by 50 percent.
Saudi Arabia has promised to make up for any shortfall should Iranian oil be curbed, but it too depends on the strait.
The United States, which has called any attempt to close the strait a "red line" not to be crossed, is reportedly planning to send a large floating base for commando teams to the Middle East.
It already has two aircraft carrier groups in and near the Gulf, and has broadened arms deals to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Against that backdrop of threat and counter-threat, attention is focused on what the IAEA talks might yield.
It was not known, however, whether the delegation would visit any of the sites mentioned in a November IAEA report suggesting Iran had worked on developing nuclear weapons.
The official IRNA news agency reported the mission would go to Fordo, but there was no IAEA confirmation.
Iran has signalled a willingness to resume talks with world powers but has yet to reply to a letter sent three months ago by E.U. foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton offering a return to talks.
That reply would come "soon," Salehi said, IRNA reported on Sunday.
Observers note that while Iran is feeling the impact of Western sanctions, it shows no sign of halting its nuclear activities.
"Sanctions have not eliminated Iran's capacity or desire to continue developing its nuclear program," said Dina Esfandiary, analyst with the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London.
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