Iran denies smuggling of uranium from Isfahan site

Iran today denied a report that it may have secretly moved some sensitive nuclear material from a site being monitored by the UN’s atomic watchdog.

Diplomats said on Tuesday that the IAEA was taking an inventory of processed uranium at the Isfahan uranium conversion facility in Central Iran amid concerns some may have been moved. They said one intelligence agency had accused Iran of spiriting an unspecified amount of processed uranium, which could be processed further and enriched for weapons purposes, out of Isfahan to an unknown location.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi denied Iran had smuggled any uranium out of Isfahan. ‘‘Our nuclear activities are transparent and under the supervision of the IAEA,’’ he said.

Iran agreed last November to freeze work at Isfahan and all other nuclear fuel-related activities while it tries to reach agreement with the European Union over the future of its nuclear programme.