The Security Council has told Iran to halt all sensitive nuclear activities and on March 29 it asked the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, to report on the country's compliance in 30 days.

ElBaradei is expected to visit Iran today to seek full Iranian co-operation with the council and IAEA inquiries.

Some Chinese researchers described ElBaradei's visit as a "peace mission."

Hua Liming, a retired diplomat and former Chinese ambassador to Teheran, said ElBaradei would try to persuade Iran to show more flexibility on the nuclear issue.

However, Hua said he is not optimistic about the visit, saying the Iranian nuclear issue is one of the most thorny international problems.