Iran nuclear chief cancels IAEA summit
Iran's vice-president and head of the country's nuclear energy strategy, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh. Photograph: Vahid Salemi/AP
The head of Iran's nuclear programme has cancelled a meeting scheduled for today with the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the Iranian vice-president, gave no reason for calling off talks with Mohamed ElBaradei, who was expected to use the meeting to investigate claims that Tehran had attempted to develop nuclear weapons.
Diplomats said the meeting was likely to have dealt with last week's announcement by the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, of a major expansion of the country's capacity for uranium enrichment, in defiance of UN security council demands.
The talks were seen as a test of Iran's willingness to cooperate with the IAEA's demands for greater openness surrounding what Tehran maintains is a civilian nuclear programme. Iran is under three sets of security council sanctions for its refusal to comply.
Last week, Ahmadinejad announced the installation of 6,000 new centrifuges – central to the process of uranium enrichment – which would double Iran's current capacity. He said a new model, which was five times faster than current equipment, was being tested.
The US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said the claim could not immediately be substantiated. Diplomats close to the IAEA said Iran had suffered problems operating existing centrifuges and was exaggerating its progress.
One diplomat said Ahmadinejad's claims alluded to a centrifuge known as the IR-2, which the agency admitted Tehran had begun testing months ago. It is believed to be up to three times faster than Iran's existing centrifuges.
Iran claims to be planning an expansion of its uranium enrichment to 54,000 centrifuges, and maintains its only interest in the process is to provide nuclear fuel for electricity generation.
US intelligence agencies say Tehran was developing nuclear weapons until at least 2003, and reports to the IAEA's 35-nation board have detailed a number of allegations. These include the linking of uranium conversion to the testing of high explosives, the design of a missile re-entry vehicle, and Iran's possession of a 15-page document on forming uranium metal into the shape of a warhead.
