Oct. 26 (Bloomberg) -- United Nations nuclear inspectors, on a three-day visit to Iran, plan more examinations of a recently disclosed uranium-enrichment site, state-run Mehr news service said.

Inspections at the enrichment plant known as Fordo, some 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Tehran near the city of Qom, started yesterday. The International Atomic Energy Agency team will carry out several visits and compare information provided by Iran with data collected at the site, Mehr said.

The plant, whose existence was revealed last month, is Iran’s second facility after Natanz to enrich uranium and isolate isotopes to generate fuel used in a nuclear reactor. The IAEA inspects such sites to determine whether they comply with the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

Iran on Oct. 23 missed a deadline for its response to a proposal by the IAEA to ship most of its stock of low-enriched uranium to Russia for further processing. The country said it would reply to the IAEA this week about the plan, under which the material would be returned as metal rods that could only be used in a reactor and not in a nuclear weapon. Uranium enriched to higher concentrations can be used to form the core of a bomb.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki confirmed today an earlier IAEA statement that Iran may send some of its low- enriched uranium abroad for additional enrichment. Mottaki said the alternative would be to purchase nuclear fuel without transferring any of Iran’s stockpile, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency cited him as saying in Tehran. Iran will give its reply in the next few days, Mottaki said.

‘Legal Activities’

“Iran’s legal activities in the field of peaceful nuclear technology will continue,” Mottaki said today. He said the research is separate from the provision of fuel for a Tehran reactor, a facility making isotopes used in cancer treatment and covered by the talks with the IAEA that concluded on Oct. 23.

Parliament prefers purchasing fuel for the Tehran reactor, Alaeddin Borjuerdi, head of parliament’s national security and foreign policy committee, told the Iranian Students News Agency today, hinting that lawmakers may not favor sending Iran’s existing stockpile abroad for further enrichment.

Acceptance of the Tehran reactor deal by Iran would improve prospects for further talks over its atomic program, which the U.S. and its allies say may be designed to build nuclear weapons. Iran rejects the accusations, saying its program is solely civilian.

The deal “put on the table is a very good one,” Alastair Newton, senior political analyst at Nomura International Plc in London, said today in an e-mail. “It would see some ratcheting back of sanctions, thereby easing a little at least the economic situation” in Iran.

UN Sanctions

The Persian Gulf country is under three sets of economic sanctions for ignoring resolutions by the UN Security Council that call for the suspension of enrichment. The measures include a ban the sale of equipment that could be used in Iran’s nuclear work, block travel by certain individuals, and cut links to Iranian banks and companies involved in the program. The U.S. has its own set of sanctions against Iran, which amount to a near-embargo on trade.

Iran has told IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei it is considering the proposal “in depth and in a favorable light” yet needs until the middle of this week to reply, according to an IAEA statement on Oct. 23.

‘Tough Negotiators’

“Iranians are remarkably tough negotiators and always inclined to a very detailed dental inspection of any ‘gift horse’,” Newton said.

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Iran’s failure to meet deadlines set by the world powers in connection with the disputed nuclear program would worsen the country’s relations with the EU.

“We have deadlines that have to be met,” Solana told reporters today before a meeting of EU foreign ministers.

Iran has said the Fordo facility is burrowed inside a mountain to protect it from potential Israeli or U.S. strikes. Its disclosure raised concerns from world powers over the scope and goals of Iran’s nuclear activities.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ladane Nasseri in Beirut at lnasseri@bloomberg.net; Ali Sheikholeslami in London at alis2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 26, 2009 11:06 EDT