U.N. Inspectors Visit Uranium Mine in Iran

United Nations nuclear inspectors were reported to have begun a visit on Wednesday to a uranium mine in southern Iran, state media reported, describing Tehran’s readiness for the scrutiny as “a good-will gesture” to demonstrate peaceful intent.

The inspection followed a temporary international agreement aimed at resolving the longstanding dispute over the Iranian nuclear program, which Iran says is for energy and medical use but which Western nations and Israel suspect is a cloak for developing the ability to make bombs.

Under the accord, which was negotiated in November and took effect on Jan. 20, Iran agreed to freeze most uranium-enrichment activities for six months and to allow inspectors more intrusive access in return for a relaxation of some Western economic sanctions.

Iranian and American officials said on Monday that the first round of talks aimed at achieving a permanent agreement will be held in mid-February in New York, possibly at the United Nations headquarters, but that the exact date and location have not yet been set.

Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said three inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency had traveled to Bandar Abbas on Wednesday to visit the Gachin mine, according to the Press TV satellite broadcaster.

The group arrived in Tehran on Tuesday. In the past, the I.A.E.A. has questioned whether the Gachin mine, which produces yellowcake uranium for conversion to nuclear fuel, is linked to Iran’s military.

Yukiya Amano, the director general of the I.A.E.A., said in November that Iran had agreed with the agency to permit “managed access” to at least two contentious sites, the Gachin mine and the Arak heavy-water plant.

In the parlance of nuclear inspections, the term “managed access” usually denotes a level of scrutiny that allows host countries to protect some information, while inspectors are able to garner some data.

The Arak plant produces heavy water for a plutonium reactor still under construction, which Iran describes as designed to generate energy. If it became operational, however, it would produce plutonium that could be used in a nuclear weapon. Inspectors visited it in December.

Last November, Iran agreed not to produce fuel for the plant, to install additional reactor components or to put the plant into operation.

Iranian state media said Tehran was not obliged under international treaties to permit inspections of either the Arak or Gachin facilities.

“The voluntary move is a good-will gesture on the part of Iran to clear up ambiguities over the peaceful nature of its nuclear energy program,” Press TV said.