UN inspectors will only have partial access when they visit a military base in Iran today that Washington says may be part of a covert atomic arms bid, an Iranian official said.
The inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived in Iran yesterday to conduct a programme of inspections that includes visiting the Parchin military facility southeast of Tehran.
The IAEA has been waiting months for Iranian permission to access the site, which US officials believe is part of a secret programme to build atomic bombs.
Iran denies that it has been trying to make nuclear weapons at Parchin or any other site in the country. It says its nuclear programme is geared solely to producing electricity.
"We are watchful. We have allowed inspections of our military installations, but we will not allow any espionage or the theft of information," said a spokesman from Iran's nuclear negotiating team.
The IAEA, which has been investigating Iran 's nuclear ambitions for more than two years, has discovered several instances of undeclared activities that could be used to make atomic bomb fuel. But it has not found any conclusive proof that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapons capability.