MOSCOW, June 28: Inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog visited the Lavizan site in Tehran on Monday where Washington suspects Iran carried out secret atomic weapon activities, the agency's chief said.

In a telephone interview, Mohamed ElBaradei said: "We went there today and we took environmental samples. Tomorrow we will also visit places in the country to look at relevant equipment."

Recent satellite photos showed Iran had removed all the buildings and much of the topsoil at Lavizan, which is located near a military installation.

The United States said this suggested that Iran was conducting activities there linked to what it says is a secret atom bomb programme. Iran denies that Lavizan was a nuclear site and insists it has no weapons programme. -Reuters