VIENNA, July 6: Iran has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to let it temporarily break UN seals on atomic equipment that has been mothballed under an agreement with the EU’s three biggest powers, diplomats said on Wednesday.

A senior Iranian official confirmed this was true but denied that it was a violation of its pledge to freeze all activities linked to the production of enriched-uranium fuel, a technology that can be used to in either atomic power plants or weapons.

“The Iranians have approached the (UN) agency with a request to temporarily remove seals from a component at the UCF (Uranium Conversion Facility) in Isfahan to conduct a test on this component,” a diplomat said on condition on anonymity.

The United States and the European Union fear Iran is using its nuclear energy programme as a front to develop nuclear weapons and have called on Iran to cease all sensitive atomic work. Tehran says its programme is peaceful and refuses to give up its sovereign right to a full atomic programme.—Reuters