Iran Allows Inspectors Access to Controversial Equipment

Iran has allowed inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to examine nuclear equipment that Tehran claims had been used to enrich uranium before Iran acquired it, the Beirut Daily Star reported today (see GSN, Oct. 28).

Tehran has said that it purchased the equipment through middlemen and cannot explain the presence of traces of highly enriched uranium.

IAEA experts arrived in Tehran Monday and have been “allowed to see the components and take sampling,” said Iranian IAEA representative Ali Akbar Salehi. “Now it’s up to them to find out where the contamination came from. We have done our best,” he added (Beirut Daily Star, Oct. 29).

Russian and Iranian officials met in Moscow today but made no progress on an agreement that would send spent fuel from the Bushehr nuclear power plant back to Russia. Moscow is helping Iran build the facility, but has said it will only supply fresh nuclear fuel if it is guaranteed that the spent fuel will be returned.

Russian Atomic Minister Alexander Rumyantsev agreed to visit Iran in January, according to Agence France-Presse (Agence France-Presse, Oct. 29).

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