IAEA inspectors head to Iran to visit recently revealed nuclear facility

IAEA inspectors head to Iran

VIENNA — A team of U.N. inspectors is heading to Iran to visit a recently revealed nuclear site.

The International Atomic Energy Agency experts are slated to examine an unfinished uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom to verify it is for peaceful purposes. Disclosure of its existence last month raised international suspicion over the extent and aim of the country’s nuclear program.

The inspectors checked in at the Austrian capital’s airport Saturday afternoon.

Their visit comes shortly after Tehran asked for more time Friday to consider a a U.N.-backed plan to ship much of its uranium to Russia for enrichment.

Iran insists its nuclear program serves to generate power and denies allegations it is trying to make nuclear weapons.