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Iran yields key papers, envoys say

A U.N. agency has long sought the blueprints related to uranium.

VIENNA - Iran has met a key demand of the U.N. nuclear agency, handing over long-sought blueprints showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of warheads, diplomats said Tuesday.

Iran's decision to release the documents, which were viewed by U.N. inspectors two years ago, was seen as a concession designed to head off the threat of new U.N. sanctions.

But the diplomats said Tehran has failed to meet other requests made by the International Atomic Energy Agency in its attempts to end nearly two decades of nuclear secrecy on the part of Iran. The diplomats spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were divulging confidential information.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei is putting the finishing touches on his latest report to his agency's 35-nation board of governors for consideration next week. While ElBaradei is expected to say that Iran has improved its cooperation with his agency's inquiry, the findings are unlikely to deter the United States, France and Britain from pushing for a third set of U.N. sanctions.

The agency has been seeking possession of the blueprints since 2005, when it stumbled upon them among a batch of other documents during its examination of suspect Iranian nuclear activities. While agency inspectors had been allowed to examine them in the country, Tehran had up to now refused to let the IAEA have a copy for closer perusal.

Iran maintains it was given the papers without asking for them during its black market purchases of nuclear equipment decades ago that now serve as the backbone of its program to enrich uranium - a process that can generate both power or create the fissile core of nuclear warheads.

ENVOY VISITS: The Chinese foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, arrived in Tehran Tuesday to urge Iran to comply with the international demands to halt its uranium-enrichment program. Yang met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.

Information from the New York Times was used in this report.

[Last modified November 14, 2007, 01:34:33]