IAEA eyes secret Iran bases

International inspectors are requesting access to two secret Iranian military sites where intelligence suggests that Tehran’s Ministry ...

International inspectors are requesting access to two secret Iranian military sites where intelligence suggests that Tehran’s Ministry of Defence may be working on atomic weapons, despite the agreement that Iran reached this week to suspend its production of enriched uranium, according to diplomats here.

The inspectors at the International Atomic Energy Agency base their suspicions on a mix of satellite photographs indicating the testing of high explosives, and procurement records showing the purchase of equipment that can be used for enriching uranium, the diplomats said. Both are critical steps in the development of nuclear arms. Iran has insisted its uranium enrichment programme is entirely for civilian nuclear energy production, but the areas the IAEA wants to visit are all located in secure military bases. Traditionally, such facilities are considered off-limits to the IAEA. Weapons experts cautioned the equipment purchases and other activities could have non-nuclear purposes.

Mohamed ElBaradei, the Director-General of the IAEA, said here on Wednesday he has repeatedly asked Iran for access to the two sites, but it has not yet been granted.

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‘‘We are following every credible piece of information,’’ he said. Understanding the exact significance of what is happening at the two military sites is ‘‘important’’, he added. ‘‘We still have work to do, a lot of work.’’

He estimated that even with full Iranian cooperation, it would take at least two years to resolve all of the outstanding questions surrounding the country’s nuclear programme. ‘‘We’re not rushing,’’ he said. ‘‘It takes time.’’

The deal the Europeans signed with Iran was designed to defuse the most urgent problem, Tehran’s enrichment of uranium at civilian sites, which could have given it quick access to the raw material for making weapons. With that problem at least temporarily under control, inspectors and the US are now turning to the question of whether Iran has a parallel military nuclear programme that it has not declared. — NYT