TEHRAN, Oct 15: A heavyweight Iranian lawmaker warned on Sunday that Tehran would limit inspections by the UN of its nuclear sites if slapped with sanctions over its atomic programme, the student ISNA agency reported.

“Taking such a step (UN sanctions) will undoubtedly limit the space for International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors and they will be denied the current opportunities,” said Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of the parliamentary national security commission.

His comments come as the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany discuss imposing sanctions against Iran over its failure to halt enrichment, which the West fears could be diverted to making a nuclear bomb.

As a member of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran insists it has a right to enrichment, which it says will be used for peaceful energy ends.

Iran allows visits to nuclear facilities under the NPT but in February it stopped applying the additional protocol to the treaty, which allows extensive access to atomic sites, after the UN Security Council adopted a resolution calling on Iran to freeze enrichment.

The European Union is expected to announce in the coming week that it will leave it up to the UN Security Council to consider punitive action after four rounds of talks between the EU and the Islamic republic failed to reach agreement.

The Europeans “will miss a valuable opportunity if they leave the talks and they will suffer more losses than Iran by this decision,” Borujerdi said.

He said that Iran’s top nuclear official Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana had reached an “11 point accord and negotiations could go on this basis to reach a result satisfying both sides”.

Mr Solana said last week that talks with Iran had broken down.—AFP