Iran invites IAEA envoys to visit nuclear sites
Analysts saw Iran's invitation, to several ambassadors accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog in Vienna, as a "public relations" exercise which may do little to help resolve a long-running international row over Tehran's nuclear plans.
"However, it is a move away from all the confrontational rhetoric," Ali Ansari, an Iran expert at Scotland's St Andrews university, said.
Iran's Foreign Ministry said the ambassadors were invited to travel to the country before Tehran and six world powers involved in diplomatic efforts to defuse the nuclear dispute are due to meet in Istanbul at the end of January.
They included representatives from some of the six powers -- China, Russia, France, Britain, Germany and the United States, ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told a news conference.
Some EU ambassadors and envoys from the non-aligned movement of mainly developing countries were also invited.
"They will possibly visit Iran and our nuclear facilities on January 15 and 16," he said.
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based U.N. nuclear body, said the plan was for the group to travel to the Natanz uranium enrichment facility and the Arak heavy water reactor.
The two sites are at the heart of Iran's nuclear dispute with the West, which suspects the Islamic Republic is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies this.
"Ambassadors ... are invited to visit our nuclear sites, particularly in Natanz and Arak," Ali Asghar Soltanieh told Reuters in Vienna. ""This is in the line of our transparent nuclear policy," he said, adding that meetings with high-ranking Iranian officials would also be organized.
The Geneva meeting made little progress toward resolving the long-running row over Iran's nuclear work. Iran says its nuclear program is purely for peaceful electricity production and has rejected international demands to curb it.
In Beijing, the Chinese foreign ministry said the country had received Iran's invitation, without saying if it would go.
The foreign ministry of Hungary, the current president of the 27-nation EU, said it had also received Iran's invitation and that it was consulting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and member states about Tehran's proposal.
"This is Iran trying to show it is flexible, that we don't have any problem to show our facilities to diplomats," said Iran expert Mahjoob Zweiri at the University of Qatar.
Proliferation expert Mark Fitzpatrick at London's International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank called it a "propaganda ploy" aimed at deepening international divisions regarding Iran's nuclear program.
"Ambassadors are not trained to be inspectors. If Iran were serious about openness, there are many other ways that sincerity could be demonstrated," he said.
Iran, one of the world's major oil producers, has been subjected since June to a series of UN, US and EU measures aimed at its important energy sector. The sanctions are aimed at persuading Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program.
While Iran has insisted the sanctions are having no effect, political analysts say the unexpected severity of the measures may have been a factor in bringing it back to talks.
The IAEA regularly visits Iranian nuclear sites including Natanz, but it has voiced growing frustration at what it sees as lack of Iranian full cooperation with its inspectors.
Mehmanparast said Tehran's invitation "has once again shown the goodwill of our country regarding cooperation" with the IAEA and Iran's "peaceful nuclear activities."
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