Iran may allow UN team to visit key military site

Iran's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday raised prospects that Tehran may allow inspectors from the U.N. nuclear agency to visit a military site where the country is suspected of conducting nuclear-related experiments.                   

A ministry spokesman said the upcoming talks with a delegation from the International Atomic Energy Agency could lead to a visit to the suspected site if a "deal" were struck with the Iranian side.                        

The IAEA inspectors are due for talks in Tehran on Wednesday in hopes of restarting a probe into the country's disputed nuclear program, which the West fears masks ambitions to obtain a nuclear weapon.                     

The agency in particular wants to visit Parchin, southeast of Tehran, where Iran is suspected of testing components needed to develop nuclear weapons. Iran denies any such activity, insisting that Parchin is only a conventional military site.                       

"Discussion over visiting Parchin could be part of a deal" with the IAEA inspectors, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters on Tuesday. He did not say when a visit to the site could take place.                                             

"The prospect of reaching an agreement with the agency is bright, if Iran's nuclear rights are recognized," Mehmanparast added.                

Shortly after North Korea said it had conducted its third nuclear test in defiance of existing United Nations resolutions, Iran said that all nuclear weapons should be destroyed.                                        

"We think we need to come to a point where no country will have any nuclear weapons," Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman said at his weekly news conference on Tuesday, when asked about North Korea's test. "All weapons of mass destruction and nuclear arms need to be destroyed."


REUTERS