Home
Discover Islam
Quran Recitations
Lectures
Fatwa
Articles
Fiqh
E-Books
Women
Boys & Girls 
Women
The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog has arrived in Tehran to discuss inspection of Iran's recently-revealed second uranium enrichment plant, which he has described as being "on the wrong side of the law".
Mohamed ElBaradei, who arrived on Saturday, will discuss plans to allow International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the site in Qom, as demanded by world powers.
He is scheduled to meet Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Islamic republic's atomic energy organization on Sunday.
Iran agreed to allow IAEA inspectors unfettered access to the plant during talks with the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in Geneva earlier in the week.
But Ali Shirzaidan, the Iranian atomic organization's spokesman, said ElBaradei's two-day visit had "no connection" with western governments' condemnation of the news Tehran was building a second enrichment plant.
Western pressure
Speaking to the Fars news agency, Shirzadian noted that ElBaradei's visit was planned prior to the Geneva talks.
Shirzaidan was also reported as saying ElBaradei would discuss "more cooperation" and how fuel could be provided for Tehran's research reactor.
Iran's English-language Press TV reported that ElBaradei would not visit the Qom facility during his trip.
Western powers suspect Tehran is making an atomic bomb under the guise of its civilian nuclear work.
Iran denies the charge, saying its nuclear program is for civilian purposes only.
Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli nuclear expert, said that Iran's revelation of its second nuclear facility had heightened tensions between Iran and the West.
"But I think both sides will be looking to restart their cooperation because they both have to gain something from it," he told Al Jazeera.
"I think ElBaradei will be testing Iran’s response to the visit by the IAEA inspectors. If the Iranian government is going to cooperate and if the IAEA is going to recognize that cooperation then I think relations between the two sides would increase."
The proposed IAEA inspections come amid mounting international pressure on Iran over its uranium enrichment program, including a demand by Barack Obama, the US president, for swift and "constructive" action following the Geneva talks.
'Secret work'
The talks in Geneva ended without agreement on the idea of "freeze for freeze" - a suspension of further enrichment in return for a halt to additional UN sanctions against Iran.
But Washington conceded that the Geneva meeting, which included the highest-level direct talks between the US and Iran in three decades, marked a "constructive" start to defusing the nuclear standoff.
Western officials said Iran had agreed "in principle" to ship out most of its enriched uranium for reprocessing in Russia and France for use in an internationally supervised research reactor in Tehran.
However, the agreement is only in principle, with the technical details set to be worked out at an IAEA meeting in Vienna on October 18.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's president, defended Tehran's nuclear program, including the building of the Qom plant, on Saturday.
"Iran's actions are based on honesty. We did not have any secret work because we gave information [about the new plant] ahead of time" to the IAEA, Ahmadinejad said.
PHOTO CAPTION
Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, center left, makes his way, while he is accompanied by Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, center right, as he arrives at the Imam Khomeini airport south of the capital Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
