Iran to invite inspectors to nuclear facility soon

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(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-02 03:30

GENEVA: Iran has agreed to invite UN inspectors to its newly-disclosed uranium-enrichment facility soon, and hopefully that would happen in the next couple of weeks, the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Thursday.

Solana was speaking to a press conference following a full day of talks between Iran and the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany.

The Iranian delegation, headed by chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, said during the meeting that they would "comply fully and immediately" with its obligations in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IATA), said Solana, the coordinator of the talks.

Tehran would soon invite IATA inspectors to visit its newly disclosed uranium-enrichment facility near the Shi'ite holy city of Qom, and that could happen within the next couple of weeks, he added.

According to the EU official, the parties also agreed to hold a second round of meeting focusing on Iran's nuclear issue by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Iran's Jalili confirmed that the talks would be resumed within October and discussions would be based on "common grounds" between Iran and the six world powers.

In a separate press conference, Jalili said Tehran would observe its obligations within the framework of the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

He also defended Iran's rights to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

The Iranian official also called for global cooperation to deal with some "real security threats" the world is facing, including the proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction and nuclear warheads and their stockpiles.

Iran's position is "disarmament for everyone, and peaceful use of nuclear energy for everyone as well," he said through an interpreter.

This is the first high-level meeting between Iran and the six countries since a similar session in July 2008 ended without substantive progress. It's also the first time that the United States is participating fully at the talks with Iran -- the US were present at the 2008 talks only as an observer.

The United States and other Western powers have long suspected Iran's nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapon material, but Tehran argues that it has no intention to make nuclear weapons and that its atomic drive is only for peaceful purposes.