Iran invites nations for n-tour,snubs US

Iran has invited Russia,China and several European Union members to visit its nuclear facilities this month,but pointedly snubbed the US,European diplomats said on Monday.

Tehran confirmed on Tuesday that it had offered the invitation to show what Ramin Mehmanparast,an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman,called transparency and Tehrans goodwill on its nuclear programme.

The invitation which seemed calculated to divide the alliance of nations opposed to Irans nuclear ambitions before the next round of negotiations over the programme was swiftly dismissed by the US. Its a clever ploy,but its not a substitute for Irans responsibilities to the IAEA, said the State Department spokesman,Philip J Crowley,referring to the International Atomic Energy Agency,which has been locked in an increasingly tense standoff with the Iranian government over its enrichment of uranium. It wont draw international attention away from the issues regarding Irans nuclear programme, Crowley added,noting that its enrichment activities violated six United Nations Security Council resolutions.

The European diplomats said the invitation was not likely to be accepted,if at all,until after the next round of negotiations,expected to be held in Istanbul at the end of this month. This is something that in principle could be interesting,but not before the next round of talks, said one diplomat,speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential deliberations. This seems like Iranian tactics: they would like to put up a smokescreen and link things that cant be linked.

Reuters quoted Mehmanparast,the Iranian spokesman,as saying the invitation was for a visit on January 15-16 before the scheduled negotiations in Istanbul between Iran and world powers including the US. The Iranian letter was sent to Russia,China,members of the European Union,and other countries. The US would normally be included in such a group,as it negotiates with Iran,along with the other permanent members of the Security Council Britain,France,Russia and China as well as Germany. Theres no invitation in our in-box, Crowley said.

The Associated Press,citing an unidentified diplomat,said Iran was offering access to Natanz and Arak heavy water reactor at Bushehr,as well as meetings with two top officials involved in the programme: Ali Salehi,the acting foreign minister who oversees it,and Saeed Jalili,the chief nuclear negotiator.

Ahmadinejad feared hardliner response to n-deal: Cables

DUBAI: A leaked US diplomatic memo describes Irans President as willing to accept a UN-backed deal for swapping nuclear fuel more than a year ago,but facing a hardline backlash at home.

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The memo released by WikiLeaks quotes Turkeys Foreign Minister,Ahmet Davutoglu,as saying Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backed the general idea of reactor fuel in exchange for giving up control of Irans low-enriched uranium.

But Davutoglu told a senior US diplomat in late 2009 that Ahmadinejad was worried about criticism from powerful opponents in Iran who viewed it as a defeat for the country. The memo was on the WikiLeaks site Tuesday.

Talks later broke down and resumed in Geneva last month.