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An Iranian man holding a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini during the anniversary ceremony of the Islamic revolution at the Khomeini shrine near Tehran on Thursday. (Reuters)
Last update - 17:30 03/02/2007
Non-Aligned Movement officials tour Iranian nuclear facility
By Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondent and AP

Diplomats from the Non-Aligned movement, Arab League and Group of 77 began touring Iran's nuclear facility at Isfahan Saturday.

The visit to the Isfahan Uranium Conversion facility in central Iran comes ahead of a United Nations deadline for Iran to halt uranium enrichment by later this month.

The diplomats will only visit the Isfahan plant, not the facility at Natanz, where Iran is expected to announce this month that it has successfully installed several thousands of centrifuges.

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If Iran does not stop enrichment by the end of the 60-day period stipulated by the UN, the Security Council will consider additional measures beyond the economic sanctions it approved December 23.

Iran appears to be trying through the diplomats' tour to show that its nuclear program is for peaceful ends - not a cover to produce nuclear weapons as the United States and several of its Western allies believe.

The diplomats from Sudan, Malaysia, Cuba, Egypt, and Algeria, represent the Non-Aligned Movement, the Group of 77 and the Arab League.

They will meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and with the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Commission, Golam Reza Agazadeh.

The Non-Aligned Movement was formed in 1954 by several Third World countries that opposed taking sides in the Cold War, while the G-77 is a group of 130 countries, mostly from the southern hemisphere.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez have recently dominated the Non-Aligned Movement owing to their fiery anti-Western rhetoric.

Inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, visited the Isfahan facility twice in January.

The Isfahan Conversion Facility, 410 kilometers south of the Iranian capital, carries out an early stage of the cycle for developing nuclear fuel, turning yellowcake into UF-6 gas, the feedstock for enrichment.

International concerns have recently focused more on the facility in Natanz, where uranium can be enriched using cascades of 164 centrifuges installed above ground. Iranian officials have announced plans to operate 3,000 centrifuges below ground enabling it to speed up its production of nuclear fuel.

A top Iranian nuclear official said Friday that UN inspectors have set up cameras the Natanz underground facility to allow them to monitor the activity.

But a UN official in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said Iran had met only some, not all, of the world body's requests for installing monitoring cameras at the underground site.

Diplomats accredited with the IAEA in Vienna said hundreds of technicians and laborers had been working feverishly at the Natanz underground facility over the past few weeks, setting up piping, control panels and electric cables.

Iranian official: Underground cameras installed at Natanz plant
A top Iranian nuclear official said Friday that UN inspectors have
set up cameras in an underground facility where the country intends to install 3,000 new centrifuges to allow them to monitor the activity.

The official, speaking on condition anonymity because he was not authorized to give statements to media, said the cameras were put in place over the past few days, ending Thursday.

But a UN official in Vienna said Iran had met only some, not all, of the world body's requests for installing monitoring cameras at the underground site. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential information.

The underground facility is located in the central Natanz uranium enrichment plant that has been at the center of a tug-of-war between Iran and the international community.

The United Nations has demanded Iran suspend uranium enrichment and has imposed sanctions on the country in December for refusing to halt the process which could lead to Tehran producing a nuclear bomb.

The cameras have been installed on the basis of Iran's obligations, the official said, stressing that centrifuge installment has not yet started at Natanz.

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  1.   How many cameras in India,Pakistan,Israel and N. Korea? 16:32  |  Guy From NYC 03/02/07
  2.   The Contemporary Rise and Fall Of The Iranian Empire! 18:08  |  Lavi 03/02/07
  3.   Invite them to Dimona and the IAEA too 18:09  |  Henrik Stahl 03/02/07
  4.   A waste of time 18:31  |  Mark Lincoln 03/02/07
  5.   #1, yes and your point is? 18:50  |  Danny - Israeli one 03/02/07
  6.   Totally ridiculous 19:26  |  Clickfool 03/02/07
  7.   Iran is also a member of NAM 20:26  |  Romeo 03/02/07
  8.   America will dump Israel 22:35  |  Lori Cowen 03/02/07
  9.   Dan Dan the Israeli Man 23:48  |  Persian Kitty 03/02/07
  10.   To Lavi #2 00:07  |  Persian Kitty 04/02/07
  11.   To Lori 00:27  |  Jeff 04/02/07
  12.   Except for the imperialists, the rest of the world supports Iran 01:24  |  the truth 04/02/07
  13.   # 1 01:39  |  ChanahS 04/02/07
  14.   To #9 03:04  |  the REAL truth 04/02/07
  15.   Wrong, actually 03:06  |  Clickfool 04/02/07
  16.   double standards 03:12  |  ready to occupy 04/02/07
  17.   Group of 77...the poorest of the poor! 03:32  |  Ryan 04/02/07
  18.   Persian Kitty Throwing Up Furballs Again! 03:41  |  Lavi 04/02/07
  19.   When scientist found out that Orang Utan 04:02  |  Dani 04/02/07
  20.   To Lavi 08:31  |  Persian Kitty 04/02/07
  21.   #9, still not getting his point 19:07  |  Danny - Israeli one 04/02/07
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