UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday praised Iran for its decision to allow U.N. nuclear inspectors access to a recently disclosed nuclear enrichment plant in the Islamic Republic.
“The inspection of the new Iranian enrichment site in Qom, conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week, is a positive step,” Ban told reporters.
“Meeting with President (Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad in September, I urged Tehran to take this step and cooperate fully with the IAEA on all outstanding issues.”
He also welcomed a draft agreement circulated by the IAEA which would have Iran ship most of its low enriched uranium stocks to Russia and France to turn it into fuel for a reactor in Tehran that produces medical isotopes for cancer treatment.
