London, December 11: Inspectors from the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency have arrived in Iran to visit a new uranium enrichment site, diplomatic sources in Vienna have said.
It is the third such visit by IAEA inspectors to Fordo, near the holy city of Qom, since Tehran admitted the site’s existence on September 21.
Iran’s confession has drawn suspicions from the West over the real purpose of its nuclear program.
The Iranian government insists that it is entirely peaceful and solely aimed at generating energy for a growing population whose supply of fossil fuels will eventually run out.
Western powers, however, believe the Islamic republic is seeking an atomic bomb.
The four IAEA officials who first inspected the site in October have so far refused to divulge specifics on what they found there.
All they have said is that it can hold some 3000 nuclear centrifuges, the motors used to enrich uranium, although none have been installed as yet.
Iran says the Fordo enrichment site will be operational in 2011.
A diplomatic source said that under an agreement between the UN agency and Iran, inspections are supposed to take place monthly.
Western envoys upped the pressure at the UN Security Council today, threatening to push for new sanctions early next year if the Islamic republic continues to defy demands to halt its nuclear program.
—Agencies