Iran hails envoys nuclear visit

After foreign representatives arrived in Iran to visit nuclear its sites, caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi described the move as a gesture of goodwill and transparency on the part of the country.

Representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), Group of 77 and the Arab League arrived in Tehran on Saturday for a two-day tour of the country’s nuclear sites.

Salehi welcomed the envoys, who have gone to the city of Arak to visit the city’s heavy water reactor, and said the diplomats would tour sites and unveiled findings, especially in the field of radio-pharmaceuticals the next day.

He stressed the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, adding that IAEA reports verify this fact.

The US and its allies accuse Iran of developing a military nuclear program, and used this pretext to pressure the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran’s financial and military sectors in June.

Iranian officials have repeatedly refuted the charges, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the IAEA, Tehran has the right to use peaceful nuclear technology.