Iran invites Vienna envoys to N-sites

Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has announced that some ambassadors to the Vienna-based agency will tour Iranian nuclear sites soon.

Envoys representing “geographical and political groups in Vienna of the countries represented in the IAEA will visit Natanz enrichment facilities and Arak heavy water reactor,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh told IRNA Tuesday morning.

“The plan [invitation] is in line with the Islamic Republic’s transparent nuclear policy,” Soltanieh added.

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

During the visit, which is scheduled for January 15 and 16, the ambassadors would meet with Iranian officials as well, the Iranian official noted.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast also confirmed the invitation of IAEA representatives to the Iranian nuclear sites.

“The invitation of some members of P5+1 group, the European Union, the Group of 77 and Non-aligned Movement is a new initiative by the Islamic Republic with the aim of making Iran’s peaceful nuclear activities transparent,” Mehmanparast said in his weekly press briefing on Tuesday.

Iran’s invitation comes in the run-up to multifaceted talks with six major world powers, including permanent members of the UN Security Council — the US, Britain, France, Russian, China and Germany — in Turkey in late January.