"The 27th has been confirmed," Rowhani told a news conference, referring to remarks on Monday by Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear watchdog, that Iran had agreed to let its inspectors into the country on that date.

"And there is no condition" on the planned inspection, said Rowhani, secretary general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, who arrived here Monday on a three-day visit.

Rowhani, widely considered Iran's leading presidential candidate in the next election, held talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi late Tuesday.

He was scheduled to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Wednesday.

In a working dinner with Rowhani, Kawaguchi called on Iran to promptly ratify an additional protocol it signed in December with the IAEA allowing inspectors to make extensive checks of its nuclear facilities, a Japanese official said.

It is important for Iran to ratify the protocol in order to "rebuild confidence with the international community," the foreign minister was quoted as saying.

Rowhani said in response that it would take "some more time" for the ratification and that Iranian people were concerned about "some negative views" on Tehran's nuclear program for peaceful use, the official said.

Iran had put off inspections scheduled for last week in order to protest the drafting of a tough resolution by the IAEA against Tehran for hiding sensitive parts of a program the United States claims is devoted to secretly developing nuclear arms.

But ElBaradei told reporters in Washington on Monday he was informed of the agreement, saying this would be in time for the IAEA to report its findings on Iran to the next agency board meeting in Vienna in June.

At the news conference, Rowhani reiterated Tehran's anti-nuclear policy.

"We will continue working hard until the international community believes that Iran's nuclear development is completely based on a peaceful purpose," he said.

Rowhani hinted at Tehran's intention of resuming its uranium enrichment program for energy use after "completely" winning international confidence in its nuclear policy.

He said the US accusations of his country's suspected nuclear arms development were "groundless."

"If the United States has information that Iran is still hiding something, please inform the IAEA and it will send its inspectors (to Iran) to inspect," he said.

Experts have said Iran could be developing the technology to make atomic weapons, even while honoring the NPT by claiming its nuclear program is peaceful. Much nuclear technology, such as enriching uranium, can have both civilian and military applications.

The IAEA said in a report last month that Iran had failed to report possible weapons-related atomic activities despite promising full disclosure.

Kawaguchi expressed concern to Rowhani about North Korea's missile development and exports which pose a direct threat to its peace and security, the official said.

Rowhani told Kawaguchi that Iran no longer had cooperative military relations with North Korea although the two countries had such exchanges during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, the official said.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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