IAEA welcomes Iran's decision to suspend uranium enrichment programme

The United Nations nuclear watch-dog agency today welcomed as a confidence-building measure Iran's announcement that it would suspend its nuclear-enrichment programme.

According to a UN spokesman, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed that it had received a letter from the Iranian Government, saying that it would "fully suspend" its uranium enrichment as of next Monday, 22 November.

The Agency is now making arrangements to verify its implementation, spokesman Fred Eckhard told reporters in New York.

In September, the Vienna-based IAEA adopted a resolution calling on Iran to suspend all activities related to uranium enrichment.