The UN nuclear watchdog said today Iran had agreed to allow inspectors to visit its Arak nuclear plant following talks on how to resolve questions about Tehran's nuclear programme.
Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Iran held talks this week in Tehran to address remaining IAEA doubts about its nuclear work.
Tehran rejects charges that it is not co-operating fully with UN inspectors. Iran, which concealed sensitive facilities for nearly two decades, says it has no more atomic secrets and that its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful ends.
The IAEA said in a statement it had agreed with Tehran to finalise in early August a plan for monitoring the Natanz uranium enrichment plant and to clear up all its questions about the country's past plutonium experiments.
Diplomats welcomed the announcement of the Arak inspection, which the IAEA said would take place before the end of July.
Iran says its Arak research reactor, due for completion in 2009, will make isotopes for medical and other peaceful uses, replacing an older 1970s light-water reactor in Tehran.
But Western powers fear that Tehran wants to use plutonium, a byproduct of production at the Arak heavy-water reactor, for the core of nuclear warheads.
Iran's envoy to the IAEA confirmed inspections would take place at Arak while adding that Iran saw completion of the reactor as its undeniable right, Iran's official IRNA news agency said.