Inspection of the plant, being built inside a mountain near the Shiite holy city of Qom, came as US President Barack Obama garnered support from France and Russia for a separate UN-brokered deal to end the crisis over Tehran's atomic programme.

A senior official, meanwhile, said Iran needs to keep 1,000 kilos of low-enriched uranium (LEU).

A four-member team of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors arrived in Tehran early on Sunday and later began inspecting the facility which is being constructed adjacent to a military base south of the capital.

"They are currently doing their job," Ali Shirzadian, spokesman of Iran Atomic Energy Organisation, told AFP without offering details.

Iran's Mehr news agency said the UN team is expected to make "several visits" to the plant during their three-day stay.

Iran's disclosure to the IAEA of the Qom plant's existence on September 21 sparked a wave of global outrage, with Obama warning the Islamic republic would face "increased pressure" if it fails to come clean on its atomic ambitions.

Iran has already been enriching uranium -- the most controversial aspect of its nuclear project -- for several years at another plant in the central city of Natanz, in defiance of three sets of UN sanctions.

Uranium enrichment is the focus of Western concern that Iran's ultimate aim is to manufacture a nuclear weapon, a charge strongly denied by Tehran.

Enriched uranium produces fuel for civilian reactors, but in highly extended form can also make the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei has already criticised Iran for what he said was its late disclosure of the Qom facility's existence, saying such construction must be revealed on the day it begins.

Iran, which informed the agency about a year after building began, said its disclosure obligation only begins 180 days before it places any nuclear material inside the facility.

Mohammad Kosari, deputy head of parliament's committee on national security and foreign policy, said the inspectors would inspect only the Qom plant.

On Saturday, Mehr news agency, quoting an unnamed Vienna-based official, said the IAEA inspectors would "compare the information given by Iran (about the Qom plant) with the facility."

Iranian officials say that at the Qom plant they intend to install new generation centrifuges -- the devices which enrich uranium at supersonic speed.

The inspection comes as Obama, presidents Dmitry Medvedev of Russia and France's Nicolas Sarkozy pledged support for a separate deal to end the crisis over Iran's uranium enrichment drive.

The White House said the three "affirmed their full support" for a UN-brokered deal under which Tehran's existing stock of LEU would be sent abroad.

Western powers are concerned that the material, if not shipped out, could be further enriched inside Iran to weapons grade.

France has said the deal calls on Iran to transfer 1,200 kilos of LEU from its Natanz plant to Russia by the end of 2009.

Russia would then enrich the material to the higher 19.75 percent needed as fuel for a Tehran research reactor which makes radio-isotopes for medical use.

The three presidents spoke after Tehran ignored a Friday deadline to respond to the deal, saying it would make its decision in the next week.

But a senior Iranian official said on Sunday that Tehran needs to keep 1,100 kilos of LEU.

"I think a nuclear accord is not a problem but we have to keep 1,100 kilos of LEU," said Mohsen Rezai, a defeated candidate in Iran's presidential election and former Revolutionary Guards chief, quoted by the website Tabnak.

"For the Tehran nuclear reactor we need to send only 350 kilos of LEU ... which will allow us to produce the fuel needed for 20 to 25 years," said the leading conservative.

Iran has around 1,500 kilos of LEU.

earlier related report
Top Iran officials question UN-brokered nuclear deal
Top Iranian figures criticised on Saturday a UN-brokered deal to produce nuclear fuel for Tehran from its own partly enriched uranium, apparently challenging what President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad himself has proposed.

Parliament speaker Ali Larijani said Western powers are trying to "cheat" Iran through the deal, under which Tehran would export low-enriched uranium (LEU) to be further enriched and converted into nuclear fuel for a reactor in Tehran.

"Westerners are insisting to go in a direction that speaks of cheating and are imposing some things on us," Larijani told ISNA news agency.

"They are saying we will give you the 20 percent (enriched uranium) fuel for the Tehran reactor only if you give us your enriched uranium. I see no link between these two things."

But that is essentially what Ahmadinejad himself proposed on September 30.

"We need 19.75 percent-enriched uranium. We said that, and we propose to buy it from anybody who is ready to sell it to us. We are ready to give 3.5 percent-enriched uranium and then they can enrich it more and deliver to us 19.75 percent-enriched uranium," the president said.

Ahmadinejad was speaking just ahead of an October 1 meeting in Geneva at which the proposal was apparently discussed, and which drew a positive reaction from Russia and France.

The full details of deal eventually hammered out have not been released, but France has said it calls on Iran to hand over to Russia by the end of the year 1,200 kilogrammes of LEU it has at a plant in Natanz.

Russia would enrich the material to the 19.75 percent level needed for use in a research reactor in Tehran that makes radio-isotopes for medical use.

Diplomats say Russia would sub-contract to France the process of turning the enriched uranium into the fuel rods for the reactor.

But ISNA said Larijani, Iran's former nuclear negotiator, termed the deal as illegal and illogical.

"The important thing in this nuclear issue is that Westerners should not cheat. We have a nuclear reactor in Tehran and according to the IAEA rules, they have to supply the fuel for it," Larijani said.

The chairman of the Iranian parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, Alaeddin Borujerdi, also questioned the deal.

He said Iran would be better off buying nuclear fuel directly than entering into the deal.

"It is better to buy 20 percent enriched fuel and keep the 3.5 percent for our domestic power plants ... than give it to those countries," ISNA quoted Borujerdi as saying.

"Iran itself needs the 3.5 percent enriched fuel, so it is in its interest to keep it," Borujerdi said.

Amid these criticisms, Ali Bagheri, member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, said Iran would receive 110 kilos of 20 percent enriched uraniun in return for its 1,200 kilos of LEU.

"The 110 kilos is enough as fuel for 10 to 15 years for the Tehran reactor," ISNA quoted him as saying.

Iran was scheduled to give its response to the IAEA deal by Friday, but has delayed it until next week.

Late on Friday, Iran's envoy to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Tehran was still "examining" the deal and he would give Tehran's response to IAEA next week.

Uranium enrichment lies at the heart of Western concerns about Iran's nuclear programme. It produces fuel for civilian reactors, but in highly extended form can also make the fissile core of an atomic bomb.

Western powers led by Washington suspect Tehran is enriching uranium with the ultimate aim of making the bomb, a charge Iran strongly denies.

World powers are concerned that Iran's LEU, if not shipped out, could be further enriched in-house by Iran to weapons grade.

Meanwhile, UN inspectors are set on Sunday to enter Iran's second uranium enrichment plant under construction near the holy city of Qom, south of Tehran.

Iran's disclosure of the Qom facility to the IAEA on September 21 triggered shockwaves amongst world powers, with US President Barack Obama warning that Iran would face "increased pressure" if it does not come clean on its nuclear activities.

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