Iran to extend nuclear site visit invite to EU, US (1st Lead)

Jan 4, 2011, 13:29 GMT

Tehran/Vienna - Iran plans to invite diplomats from Western powers to tour key nuclear sites, its Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, a day after a shorter list of countries was leaked to the press.

The visit is to take place before the next round of nuclear talks with six world powers in Istanbul at the end of January, according to ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast.

Tehran would invite representatives from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and its political arch foe the United States - as well as the EU and the Non-Aligned Movement, he said.

He called the move a sign of goodwill that would act as proof that Iran is conducting its nuclear work transparently.

Several diplomats in Vienna said that of the group of six, only representatives of China and Russia had received invitations so far, while Britain, France, Germany and the US had been left out. The European Union also confirmed receipt of an invitation.

In addition, Egypt has been invited on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement of developing countries, as well as an official of the Arab League.

Britain, France and Germany would decline to tour the nuclear sites if they were invited, a European diplomat said Tuesday in the Austrian capital, which is home to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

'It's not the role of ambassadors to go to sites,' the European diplomat said. 'The goal is better cooperation with the IAEA, not with ambassadors.'

The sites in question, a uranium enrichment plant and a power reactor, are under constant surveillance by the IAEA. However, the nuclear agency's inspectors have been denied access to several other sites, officials and documents.

A European Commission spokesman said in Brussels that the EU would respond after consulting with its international partners.

The reaction from the US was similarly hesitant. 'The invitation to several countries to tour the facilities is not a substitute for Iran fulfilling its obligations of cooperating with inspectors of the IAEA,' a US official said on condition of anonymity.

China's Foreign Ministry also confirmed that it had received an invitation.

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