The announcement came a day after Iran's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency took the unusual step of urging his government to agree to surprise inspections of its nuclear facilities by the

The international community is pressing Tehran to sign an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to allow the no-notice inspections, but so far Iran has not obliged.

A first IAEA team of judicial experts will go in the first week of August on a 48-hour mission to explain how the protocol will work if Tehran signs, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said.

The second team will carry out routine inspections ahead of a report on Iran's nuclear facilities by the IAEA due to be released on September 8, Fleming said, without giving specific dates for the visit.

During a visit to South Africa last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said the country's leadership would decide whether to agree to sign after hearing from the IAEA experts.

Iran, however, repeated assurances Monday that it has no intention of quitting the NPT altogether.

"Our policy remains the same as we declared before," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

Earlier this month, European Union foreign ministers expressed their increasing concern" over Iran's nuclear programme and demanded Iran's unconditional acceptance of the additional NPT protocol.

The EU, which is negotiating a key trade pact with Iran, said it would review its cooperation with Tehran in September, when the IAEA delivers its latest report.

Iran, a country rich in oil, is suspected by its archfoe the United States of covertly developing nuclear weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear programme, allegations strongly denied by Tehran.

Last week, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami accused the United States of seeking to overthrow the Islamic regime and of using the nuclear weapons allegations as a pretext.

Iran's representative to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, warned Sunday that if the protocol was not signed, there was a real danger the agency might refer Iran's case to the UN Security Council, as threatened by Washington.

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