Azernews.Az

Inspectors from the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived in Iran for two days of talks about that country's nuclear program, including signs of possible work on atomic weapons.

Reports said it was not immediately clear if the UN inspectors would be allowed to visit nuclear facilities or would be limited to technical discussions with Iranian officials.

It is the second visit to Iran by an IAEA team in the last three weeks, reflecting growing international concern about alleged nuclear weapons work by Tehran. After the first, the inspection team praised the meetings but said there was "still a lot of work to be done" to ease fears over Iran's nuclear activities.

Iran is forging ahead with its nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes, despite international sanctions and possible threats of an Israeli military strike.

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA team leader Herman Nackaerts said his five-member delegation hoped to have "a couple of good and constructive days in Tehran" that would lead to "some concrete results."

"The highest priority remains, of course, the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program," Nackaerts said. "But we want to tackle all outstanding issues and this is, of course, a very complex issue that may take a while. But we hope it will be constructive."

Iranian state-run television said the IAEA team hopes to visit the Parchin military complex. That site has been suspected of housing a secret underground facility used for Iran's nuclear program -- a claim that Iranian authorities deny.

IAEA inspectors visited Parchin in 2005 but went to only one of four areas of potential interest within the grounds. That visit did not result in reports of any unusual activities, and the IAEA has not mentioned Parchin in its reports since 2008.

The UN nuclear watchdog in November said Iran had carried out tests that appeared relevant to producing a nuclear weapon.

Last week, Iran announced that it had inserted its first domestically produced nuclear fuel rods into a research reactor in Tehran, demonstrating the technical ability to enrich uranium to near-weapons-grade levels. Iran says the reactor is for medical research.

Nuclear physicists have told RFE/RL that Iran could start amassing the weapons-grade material it would need to build a nuclear bomb by recycling spent uranium from the Tehran research reactor through a new generation of carbon-fiber centrifuges that it unveiled last week at its Natanz nuclear facility.

In response to tighter European Union sanctions -- including an oil embargo scheduled to go into effect in July and the freezing of assets of Iran's central bank --