October 27, 2003	Monday	Sha’aban 30, 1424

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TEHRAN, Oct 26: A spokesman for Iran’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that Iran has suspended its uranium enrichment programme in response to international pressure to show it is not developing atomic weapons.

Asked if Iran had stopped the process, Mr Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters at a news conference: “It was done since we reached the agreement.”

Iran met foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany on Tuesday and agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and sign up to snap inspections of nuclear sites.

Asefi described the agreement as being in the interests of Iran but said Iran reserved the right to restart enrichment at its own discretion.

“Any time we feel it is necessary, we will stop the suspension,” he added.

Iran had been handed an Oct 31 deadline by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to grant inspectors “unrestricted access” to nuclear sites and suspend uranium enrichment.

Iran has said it planned to enrich uranium to the low level required to fuel nuclear power stations to meet booming domestic electricity demand, not enrich it further to weapons-grade.

Mr Asefi said a new team of inspectors had arrived in Iran on Sunday to verify details of documents regarding Iran’s nuclear history handed to IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei last week.—Reuters