The UN military watchdog will press Iran to allow access to an Iranian military site at talks starting today.

Iran’s nuclear program will be the focus of the two-day meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The site in question is Parchin, a military complex southeast of Tehran.

The IAEA suspects the large containment chamber there could be used for possible nuclear weapon development.

Such suspicions were contained in a report on Iran’s nuclear program issued by the IAEA back in November.

IAEA head Yukiya Amano says the issue is a “priority” for his team of senior officials in this week’s discussions.

Iran has rejected the accusations as fabricated but so far has not granted repeated requests by the UN agency to visit the place. 

Tehran has repeatedly denied it is secretly working to build a nuclear weapon, something the West suspects, especially the United States and its close ally Israel.

Meanwhile,  Iran has warned Western powers that applying pressure could jeopardize even more high-stake talks on its nuclear program. 

Iranian state TV said Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili made the remark on May 13 in Tehran to a former French prime minister Michel Rocard who visited Iran ahead of the talks on May 23 in Baghdad with the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany.

Jalili called on Western officials to avoid “unconstructive remarks” ahead of the talks, the television said, without elaborating.

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said on May 11 she hoped the talks would form the basis for Iran to eventually abandon its “nuclear weapons program.”

Rocard’s visit to Iran raised eyebrows back in Paris.

Speaking to AP, a member of president-elect Francois Hollande’s transition team said the visit by Rocard to Tehran was “totally private” despite its portrayal in the Iranian media as  a diplomatic mission.

Based on AFP and Reuters reporting
Source : Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty