EU: Visiting Iran N-sites up to IAEA

The European Union confirms having received Iran’s invitation for touring the country’s nuclear sites, saying it is up to the UN nuclear agency to carry out the inspection.

Tehran on Tuesday invited envoys representing geographical and political groups in the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), including some members of the P5+1 — Britain, China, France, Russia, the US plus Germany –, the European Union, the Group of 77 and the Non-Aligned Movement, to visit Iran’s nuclear sites.

On Wednesday, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton’s spokesman Michael Mann said the 27-member bloc received the invitation, but has not yet responded to the letter.

“[The IAEA] are the people who have to inspect the Iranian nuclear facilities,” AFP quoted Mann as saying.

Iran’s invitation comes in the run-up to the multifaceted talks with the P5+1 in the Turkish city of Istanbul in late January.

“We are looking forward to the talks,” Mann concluded.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei on Tuesday confirmed that Beijing has received the invitation from Iran and that China is “communicating with Iran on this issue.”

The ambassadors are to meet with Iranian officials during the visit, which has been scheduled for January 15 and 16.

The Vienna representatives of different countries paid a similar visit to Isfahan’s Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) in 2006.