UN inspectors have gained rare access to an Iranian nuclear facility, giving them a "better understanding" of Tehran's disputed programme, it has been reported. They observed a plant where centrifuges for enriching uranium were developed as part of a transparency deal but acknowledged that Iran remains resistant to an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) investigation.

The United Nations is unlikely to complete its assessment of whether Iran has conducted research on nuclear weapons before the deadline set by six world powers for a deal to curb the country's nuclear activities, a new complication in the international negotiations.. In its latest quarterly report released Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, said it would conduct a comprehensive "system assessment" of all evidence on the sensitive issue of whether Iran has sought to gain nuclear weapons capability.

Iran has neutralized most of its stockpile of higher-grade enriched uranium that could be turned quickly into the core of a nuclear weapon, the U.N. nuclear agency said Friday, leaving the country with only about a fifth of what it would need for such a purpose. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a in a quarterly report that Iran now has less than 90 pounds of the material