"There is no truth to media reports claiming that the IAEA was not able to get access to Natanz"

[tjwash]

Don't let the ABC News online fool you. This this the "Australian Broadcasting Network. The American ABC is toeing the Rove line on this.

UN watchdog denies Iran blocked nuke visit

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has denied a report that Iran blocked its inspectors from visiting a nuclear facility where it is enriching uranium.

"There is no truth to media reports claiming that the IAEA was not able to get access to Natanz," said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Marc Vidricaire.

"We have not been denied access at any time, including in the past few weeks. Normally we do not comment on such reports but this time we felt we had to clarify the matter," he said.

"If we had a problem like that we would have to report to the (35-nation IAEA governing) board ... That has not happened because this alleged event did not take place."

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA also denied yesterday's reports, which were attributed to an unnamed diplomat in Vienna, home to the IAEA.

Last year, Iran held up some inspection visits to Natanz, but access was eventually restored, diplomats familiar with IAEA operations said at the time.

Iran says it seeks only nuclear-generated electricity, not atomic weapons as some Western countries suspect.

IAEA inspectors visited the Natanz plant on April 15-16 and again about two weeks later and diplomats familiar with their findings said Iran now has more than 1,600 enrichment centrifuges, divided into 10 fuel-cycle networks, operational.

Iran has more than doubled the number of centrifuges in Natanz in the past two months and aims to have 3,000 running by end of May, enough to make one atom bomb a year.]

Here is an older report saying the same thing

IAEA Refutes False Report Of Iran Obstruction

Posted by Reuters on Saturday, May 12th at 3:13 PM

UN watchdog denies Iran blocked nuke visit

The United Nations' nuclear watchdog has denied a report that Iran blocked its inspectors from visiting a nuclear facility where it is enriching uranium.

"There is no truth to media reports claiming that the IAEA was not able to get access to Natanz," said International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) spokesman Marc Vidricaire.

"We have not been denied access at any time, including in the past few weeks. Normally we do not comment on such reports but this time we felt we had to clarify the matter," he said.

"If we had a problem like that we would have to report to the (35-nation IAEA governing) board ... That has not happened because this alleged event did not take place."

Iran's ambassador to the IAEA also denied yesterday's reports, which were attributed to an unnamed diplomat in Vienna, home to the IAEA.

Last year, Iran held up some inspection visits to Natanz, but access was eventually restored, diplomats familiar with IAEA operations said at the time.

Iran says it seeks only nuclear-generated electricity, not atomic weapons as some Western countries suspect.

IAEA inspectors visited the Natanz plant on April 15-16 and again about two weeks later and diplomats familiar with their findings said Iran now has more than 1,600 enrichment centrifuges, divided into 10 fuel-cycle networks, operational.

Iran has more than doubled the number of centrifuges in Natanz in the past two months and aims to have 3,000 running by end of May, enough to make one atom bomb a year.

United States corporate run News being so fair and balanced and all that...

[tjwash]

1. Vanity-kick

[drm604]

2. K&R

This deserves more than a vanity kick. The fact that the media has been circulating this false story shows, IMHO, that the Whitehouse wants to take some kind of action against Iran for reasons they don't think the American people would accept. There's no other reason for this type of propaganda.