US to demand immediate opening of Iranian nuclear site (Roundup)

Sep 27, 2009, 2:22 GMT

Washington - The world powers led by the United States will insist in a meeting Thursday with an Iranian delegation that Tehran immediately open its newly revealed nuclear plant to international inspectors, the Washington Post reported online.

The existence of the second Iranian nuclear facility was revealed Friday in an announcement by US President Barack Obama, who joined with leaders from Britain and France to accuse Tehran of concealing from UN inspectors the plant, which is believed to be intended for enriching uranium.

Citing administration officials in an article posted late Saturday, the paper said that the six countries heading into talks with Iran - the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany - would also seek access to documents and people where the tunnel complex is being built.

The six countries are due to meet Thursday in Geneva with Iranian officials.

The Post's sources said that failure to give a serious response by the end of the year would bring a strong push for harsh economic and financial sanctions with the intention of crippling Iran's economy.

On Saturday, Iran repeated its insistence that it was doing nothing to violate international agreements.

   The head of the country's atomic organization, Ali-Akbar Salehi, said Iran had agreed to let the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspect the new uranium enrichment plant near Tehran.

   'Considering the suitable cooperation between Iran and the IAEA, there will be an inspection of the new plant in due time,' he told state television, but without giving a precise date.

   He indicated the new plant, 100 kilometres south of Tehran, would not become operational for over a year. The country's first enrichment plant Natanz is located in central Iran.

In New York, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was asked following a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council members, who are Iran's Arab neighbours, about Salehi's unspecified offer of inspections.

'It is always welcome when Iran makes a decision to comply with the international rules and regulations, and particularly with respect to the IAEA,' she said. 'We are hopeful that, in preparing for the meeting on October 1, Iran comes and shares with all of us what they are willing to do, and gives us a timetable on which they are willing to proceed.'