Iran wants senior atom inspector out

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran, cranking up a war of nerves with the West, has demanded the removal of the official running U.N. nuclear inspections, diplomats said on Friday.

Warning of a spiral toward conflict, the head of the U.N. atomic agency called on Iran and the West to declare a "timeout" under which Iranian nuclear work and U.N. sanctions would be suspended simultaneously.

Tehran's move, following a ban on 38 inspectors from four major Western nations announced on Monday, appeared aimed at testing Western resolve over its disputed nuclear activity while stopping short of violating the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

An Iranian diplomat quoted by the official news agency IRNA accused the International Atomic Energy Agency's Iran section head of passing on confidential information about Iranian nuclear sites to nations arrayed against Tehran.

In addition, any inspectors from Western countries that sponsored U.N. sanctions slapped on Iran last month were now barred from working in Iran, the unnamed diplomat said.

Iran was penalized by the U.N. Security Council a month ago for refusing to stop enriching uranium, the pathway to fuel for atomic energy or bombs, and impeding IAEA investigations into a nuclear program that was clandestine for 18 years.

Western powers suspect Iran is trying to assemble warheads behind the facade of a civilian nuclear power project. Tehran, the world's No. 4 exporter of oil, says it is seeking only peaceful nuclear generation of electricity.

Iran has brushed off the U.N. ban on transfers of sensitive materials and know-how to its nuclear program. It plans to start installing 3,000 centrifuges shortly, escalating a modest, experimental enrichment project to "industrial-scale."

A senior Vienna diplomat familiar with IAEA operations said Iran had written to the agency asking for the ouster of Chris Charlier, a Belgian in charge of the agency's Iran dossier.

IRAN BARRED CHARLIER LAST YEAR

He has been in Tehran's sights before. Last year, it barred Charlier from further visits, accusing him of anti-Iranian bias. IAEA sources dismissed the allegations. Charlier kept his post.

"The Iranians have not made threats here, they're just being persistent," another Vienna diplomat close to the IAEA said on Friday. The agency did not comment.