The U.N. nuclear agency has created a special Iran Task Force of nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts and other specialists focused on probing allegations that Tehran has been -- or is -- secretly working on developing atomic arms, according to an internal document shared with The Associated Press.


It also says it will focus on "relevant" IAEA and U.N Security Council resolutions on Iran. Both have demanded that Tehran stop activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons and cooperate with the agency's investigation of suspicions Tehran worked on nuclear weapons.

But while drawing together its best experts, the new task force will have no more power regarding inspections of Iran's known or suspected nuclear sites than previous IAEA inspectors did.

Agency attempts to visit a site at Iran's Parchin military complex southeast of Tehran have documented IAEA limitations. For months, satellite images have recorded what the International Atomic Energy Agency suspects is an attempt to sanitize the site of suspected work on explosive charges used to detonate a warhead. At the same time, Iran has repeatedly rebuffed agency efforts for access -- including last Friday.



Creating a unit focused on only one country is an unusual move for the IAEA, reflecting the urgency the U.N. nuclear watchdog is attaching to Iran amid fears that it is moving closer to the ability to make nuclear weapons, despite its denial. With diplomatic efforts to engage Tehran on its nuclear activities stalemated -- and Israel warning that it will not tolerate an Iran armed with atomic arms -- concerns are growing that time is running short to defuse tensions peacefully

Israel is particularly worried about a fortified bunker at Fordo, where Iran has begun producing uranium enriched to a level closer to the grade used in nuclear weapons than its main stockpile of fuel-grade material. About 70 kilometers (40 miles) south of Tehran, Fordo has about 800 centrifuges operating so far, enriching to a 20-percent level, and continues assembling others without operating them -- diplomats say that close to 3,000 are now fully or partially screwed together, including hundreds over the past three months

In Tehran, Iran's IAEA envoy, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told reporters Tuesday that his country will "not suspend enrichment activities, even for a second."



Some IAEA officials feel that means that they often spend an inordinate amount of time monitoring countries that are unlikely to engage in such activities -- Western European nations, for instance -- meaning that not enough attention is paid to potential proliferators.



The agency said he will be reporting to IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts, the head of the agency's nuclear inspectors and the agency's point man on Iran.