Iran

Iran has made significant concessions to UN nuclear inspectors days before a highly critical report on the country's nuclear program was due to be published. Inspectors from the IAEA visited Iran's nearly complete heavy water reactor near the central town of Arak this month, after having been barred from the site for a year. Western officials say the reactor could be used to make plutonium, but Tehran maintains it is for research and the production of medically useful isotopes. IAEA inspectors became alarmed when they were no longer allowed access to the site last year and a roof was constructed over the reactor so they were no longer able to keep track of its progress from satellite photographs. (The Guardian)