UN nuclear inspector dies in Iran car crash

A U.N. nuclear inspector has died in a car accident in central Iran, the country’s Atomic Energy Organization said in a statement on Tuesday. The statement identified the inspector as Seo Ok-seok, a South Korean national part of an inspection team the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Organization maintains in Iran. The inspector was on a mission with an IAEA colleague near the Khondab complex in the central province of Markazi, it added without naming the other inspector who was injured in the accident around noon (0730 GMT). “One of the two experts was injured, while Seo Ok-seok from South Korea died of severe injuries,” read the statement, carried by the official IRNA news agency. It did not provide further details. Iran is building a heavy water research reactor on the outskirts of the village of Khondab. The IAEA had no immediate comment. The agency carries out regular inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites and often sends inspectors to Iran to visit some of the country’s nuclear sites. The IAEA undertook two high-level trips to Iran at the beginning of this year in an effort to address questions raised in an IAEA report in November on suspected Iranian research activities relevant to nuclear weapons. Iran has dismissed the allegations as fabricated. The United States and its allies accuse Iran of using its nuclear program to cover up its development of a nuclear weapons capability but Tehran maintains its activities are purely peaceful.