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Tehran: Iran has told the International Atomic Energy Agency to remove some surveillance equipment from its nuclear facilities by mid-February, a defiant response to an IAEA vote reporting Tehran to the UN Security Council. After Saturday's IAEA decision, driven by concerns Iran may be secretly trying to build atomic bombs, Tehran announced it would stop implementing a protocol giving the UN nuclear watchdog agency increased inspection powers in the country. "From the date of this letter, all voluntarily suspended, non-legally binding measures including the provisions of the Additional Protocol, and even beyond that, will be suspended," according to an Iranian government letter to the IAEA released by the UN nuclear watchdog group on Monday.
"All Agency containment and surveillance measures which were in place beyond the Agency's normal safeguards measures should be removed by mid-February 2006," the February 5 letter added. The letter to the IAEA Secretariat said Iran would limit future cooperation with UN inspectors to its basic obligations under the 1970 nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iranian officials have said they want the IAEA to remove some surveillance cameras from some nuclear sites and will no longer grant inspectors access to military facilities. The Additional Protocol was signed by Iranian officials in 2003. But it was never ratified by parliament. The protocol gives the agency inspecting powers beyond normal safeguards agreements linked to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Under safeguards, countries only have to open sites where there are declared nuclear materials. But with the protocol, inspectors can demand inspections on short notice of areas and programmes that they suspect could be misused for weapons activity. Earlier on Monday, Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani announced IAEA inspectors would be arriving in Iran shortly to oversee the resumption of uranium enrichment - a process that can be used to make bomb-grade material. He did not specify a date for starting enrichment. EU officials have warned that Iran's enrichment resumption after a freeze of over two years, and curbing of inspections in retaliation for the vote, will exacerbate its nuclear case and heighten the prospect of UN sanctions. Iran says it only wants to enrich uranium to a low grade for use in nuclear power reactors, not to the high grade needed for atomic weapons, which it denies seeking. The European Union, China and Russia have urged Iran to use the month before the next IAEA board meeting on March 6 to address the agency's concerns and return to the talks. In Dubai, Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was still hopeful that Iran will take confidence-building measures with the IAEA. "It's not the end of the road," Annan said of the Security Council referral. "I hope that in between, Iran will take steps that will help create an environment and confidence-building measures that will bring the partners back to the negotiating table."
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