Un team denied entry to Iran’s nuclear sites

The crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme deepened yesterday when United Nations experts returned from Tehran without an agreement to allow them to inspect the country’s nuclear sites.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei denied the Islamic republic was seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, but the regime’s lack of co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency mission will fuel suspicions that it is doing precisely that.

The mission’s failure will also increase suspicion that Iran’s recent offer to resume long-stalled talks with six world powers is a ploy to buy more time for developing nuclear weapons.

Oliver Thranert, of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, said: ‘‘This shows that Iran is not in the mood for substantial compromise.’’

Britain, the United States, Russia, China, France and Germany have yet to respond to Iran’s offer.

The IAEA team was seeking answers about possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme.

Iranian officials stonewalled on the team’s first visit to Tehran last month, and did so again this time.

On both occasions, the regime refused to let the team visit the Parchin military base where, according to an IAEA report in November, it has built a steel container for testing the explosives required to detonate a nuclear device.

The IAEA announced the mission’s failure in a swift and candid statement that reflected what one Western official called its ‘‘immense sense of frustration’’.

The statement made no mention of the possibility of further talks.