Tuesday, January 10 2006 15:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Officials of the UN nuclear agency removed seals on Iran's nuclear facilities today (Jan 10, 2006) and research work resumed, said the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran.

The move is likely to increase pressure on Iran from Western nations which have called for it to cease nuclear activities until an agreement has been reached on the scope of its nuclear program.

Mohammad Saeedi told reporters at a press conference that officials of the International Atomic Energy Agency had authorised the seals' removal last night.

"Today, with the powers delegated to IAEA inspectors in Iran, some of the seals that are in the field of only research were removed, and research facilities resume their work," Saeedi said.

IAEA inspectors had arrived in Tehran on Saturday to remove the seals put on the nuclear research sites more than two years ago.

They had been expected to complete their task yesterday, when Tehran-based journalists expected an announcement as Iran had vowed it would immediately resume work.

Saeedi stressed that Iran was not resuming the production of nuclear fuel, a process that would involve uranium enrichment.

"What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more than that," he said. "We make a difference between research on nuclear fuel technology and production of nuclear fuel. Production of nuclear fuel remains suspended."