July 31, 2003	Thursday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 30, 1424

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TEHRAN, July 30: Iran will decide whether or not to accept snap inspections of its nuclear sites after an upcoming visit by legal experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said.

Mr Kharazi, quoted by the state news agency IRNA, said on Tuesday that Iran, which is under increasing international pressure to act, was expecting the arrival of the experts it has invited in the next few days.

“After these people come to Iran and we listen to their reasons and justifications, then we will decide whether to sign the IAEA’s additional protocol,” he said.

The international community, suspicious that Tehran has a secret weapons programme, is pressing it to sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) allowing the IAEA to carry out thorough inspections of the country’s installations without prior declaration.

On July 28, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said: “A first IAEA team of judicial experts will go in the first week of August on a 48-hour mission to explain how the protocol will work if Tehran signs.”

A second team will carry out routine inspections ahead of a report on Iran’s nuclear facilities by the IAEA due to be released on Sept 8, she added.

Earlier this month, European Union foreign ministers expressed their increasing concern over Iran’s nuclear programme and demanded Iran’s unconditional acceptance of the additional NPT protocol.

The EU, which is negotiating a key trade pact with Iran, said it would review its cooperation with Tehran when the report is published.

Iran denies the allegations that it is covertly developing nuclear weapons.—AFP