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IAEA director-general Mohamed ElBaradei's trip coincides with a Middle East tour by US President George W. Bush. -- AP
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TEHERAN - UN atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei was in Teheran on Friday for talks on outstanding questions about Iran's nuclear ambitions, a programme the West fears will ultimately yield warheads.
A diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said an agency inquiry, which Iran stonewalled for years until August, had entered a final phase addressing US intelligence about past, covert attempts to 'weaponise' atomic material.
Mr ElBaradei's trip coincides with a Middle East tour by US President George W. Bush, who has said Iran is a 'threat to world peace' and is seeking Arab support to rein in Iran.
Teheran dismisses US charges and says its nuclear plans are peaceful.
Iran and the US are now embroiled in another row over a naval incident in the Strait of Hormuz. Washington says three of its warships were threatened by small Iranian craft on Sunday. Iran says it was a routine contact.
Foreign Ministry official Alireza Sheikhattar said Mr ElBaradei would 'discuss the remaining questions that the agency has about Iran's peaceful nuclear activities', the daily Teheran Emrouz reported ahead of the IAEA chief's arrival.
Mr ElBaradei is to meet the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, on Friday.
On Saturday, his meetings include talks with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.
Worrying the West
An IAEA statement before the trip said Mr ElBaradei hoped to 'develop ways and means to enhance and accelerate' steps to clarify the past and current scope of Iran's nuclear efforts.
Iran said in August it would answer outstanding questions one by one about its nuclear history but an end of year target mooted by Mr ElBaradei for completing the process has passed with the most sensitive issues still unresolved.
Mr ElBaradei is expected to seek an end to curbs on UN inspections needed to verify Iran's denials of any diversions of nuclear materials into bomb making and to press for a rapid end to the inquiry into Iran's past, diplomats in Vienna said.
Iran says its efforts to enrich uranium, the part of the programme that most worries the West, are aimed at making fuel to generate electricity so it can save more of its huge gas and oil reserves for export.
Teheran's failure to halt enrichment has drawn two rounds of UN sanctions, and Washington is pushing for a third. -- REUTERS
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