Iran signed in Vienna on Thursday an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which allows snap inspections of its nuclear facilities, a step trying to dispel the suspicion over its alleged covert nuclear program.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and Ali Akabar Salehi, Iran's representative to the UN nuclear watchdog, signed the agreement at the agency's headquarters in Vienna.

The protocol, tacked on to the NPT, subjects Iran's all nuclear facilities to the IAEA inspections.

The protocol gives IAEA inspectors the power to carry out searches at shorter notice, with as little as two hours' warning, and grants the IAEA broader searching powers, including the right to demand information on activities at private entities not connected to the government, and the right to take environmental samples and check radiation levels in wider areas.

The protocol also places stronger obligations on a state to report all matters relating to its nuclear fuel cycle to the IAEA, including imported machine components and uranium mining.

The conclusion of the protocol came after IAEA adopted a resolution in November, censuring Iran for its covert nuclear activities, a compromise between the United States, who urged the IAEA to condemn Iran, and Britain, France and Germany, who demanded that Iran be rewarded for its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog since October.??

Earlier this year, the IAEA threatened to submit Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

The United States has always alleged that Iran has been developing secret nuclear program, an accusation Iran denied. On the contrary, it repeatedly claims that the nuclear program is only of a civil nature.

As a signatory country of the NPT, Iran is forbidden to develop nuclear weapons.

(Xinhua News Agency December 18, 2003)