Asia

Asia

List of guests shrinks for Iranian nuclear tour

15 January 2011 04:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Russia is not expected to join a weekend tour of Iranian nuclear sites, a senior diplomat said on Friday, in a possible further setback for what a Western envoy called a failed "publicity stunt" by the Islamic Republic, APA reports quoting â€œReutersâ€.
In Geneva, Switzerland’s foreign minister said it and all other "like-minded" countries had rejected Iran’s invitation to visit its Natanz uranium enrichment site and the Arak heavy water reactor plant under construction on Saturday and Sunday.
The European Union already last week spurned Iran’s offer to some ambassadors accredited to the watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency. Tehran described its move as a goodwill gesture ahead of talks with major powers in Istanbul on January 21-22.
On Thursday, China effectively also turned down the invitation while Russia cautioned that the visit could not replace U.N. inspections or negotiations between Tehran and the six big powers.
If Moscow also stays away, the tour would mainly be attended only by envoys from developing, non-aligned countries such as Cuba, Algeria and Egypt. Iran snubbed the United States, Britain, France and Germany by not including them in the invite.
Iran has portrayed the visit as a sign of openness regarding its nuclear activities, saying it has nothing to hide -- although the IAEA has urged Iran to stop limiting access for its inspectors so they can verify the program is solely peaceful.
Western diplomats have dismissed it as a gambit to divide the powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany -- and distract attention from their concerns about Iran’s uranium enrichment and heavy-water program.
Natanz and Arak are at the heart of a long-running international dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says has peaceful aims but the West suspects is designed to develop nuclear weapons capability.
NO BREAKTHROUGH
"I don’t think so," a senior diplomat told Reuters when asked if Russia’s envoy was expected to be among the ambassadors due to fly to Tehran later on Friday.
Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, told Reuters earlier this week that envoys representing groupings of mainly developing countries and others would join the tour, including Cuba, Egypt, the Arab League as well as Syria and Venezuela.
He said he had not yet seen an official response from China and Russia. Soltanieh did not mention Brazil and Turkey, which diplomats have said were also among the invitees. Cuba and Venezuela are allies of Iran, while Turkey and Brazil have tried to mediate in Tehran’s standoff with the powers.
Iran organized a similar visit in 2007, inviting only developing nation diplomats at the time.
Swiss Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey told a news conference Switzerland would not be taking part in the tour.
"We declined the invitation. All the like-minded countries have declined the invitation and that’s it," Calmy-Rey said.
A Western diplomat said in Vienna: "Iran’s publicity stunt was a big failure. The world will remain steadfast in its demands that Iran comply with its international obligations."
Several U.N. Security Council resolutions have urged Iran to open up fully to the IAEA to defuse mistrust in Tehran’s stance that it is enriching uranium only for electricity and other peaceful purposes, not for nuclear weapons.
Expectations of a breakthrough at next week’s meeting in Istanbul are low after a first round of talks in Geneva last month failed to make any substantial progress.