Iran
's atomic chief Ali Akbar Salehi said Friday that
Tehran
was ready to
adopt "any confidence-building measure" on its atomic programme as it
opens two nuclear facilities to foreign dignitaries.
Salehi's remarks came as
Iran
undertakes a two-day tour of its Natanz and
Arak
nuclear
facilities from Saturday, and ahead of key talks with six world powers next
week at
Istanbul
over
Tehran
's atomic drive.
"We are ready to adopt any confidence-building measure while preserving
our nuclear rights," Salehi told ISNA news agency.
"We hope that mutual trust can be built (between
Iran
and the six world powers)," he said. "I think sooner or later logic
should prevail in international affairs."
The six powers --
U.K.
,
China
,
France
,
Russia
, the
United States
and
Germany
--suspect
Tehran
is masking a weapons drive under the guise of a civilian nuclear
programme.
Iran
denies the charge.
Salehi reiterated that the proposed tour of its Natanz and
Arak
nuclear facilities
was a confidence-building initiative.
"No country in the world will show its nuclear installations to others and
this is a sign that
Iran
's
nuclear activities are peaceful," said Salehi, who oversees
Iran
's
nuclear programme.
Iran
has also welcomed "nuclear experts" to join in the tour.
Iran
said last week that invitations to visit the sites had been sent to
some ambassadors whose nations are members of the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
Iran
's IAEA ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told ISNA that "leaders and
representatives of the Non-Aligned Movement... the ambassador and
representative of the Arab league in international bodies in
Vienna
as well as the
Syrian and Venezuelan ambassadors in the IAEA have expressed willingness to
join."
Such visits are rare. The last trip that
Tehran
arranged for
members of the IAEA was in February 2007.
Diplomatic sources at the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog in
Vienna
, said
invitations had gone out to
Russia
,
China
,
Egypt
and
Cuba
as well as to
Hungary
,
as rotating president of the European Union.
The E.U. said it would not attend.
The sources said the
U.S.
,
U.K.
,
France
and
Germany
were not on the list.
Iran
's allies
Russia
and
China
too have not given a categorical affirmation of whether their
representatives would participate in the tour and
Moscow
even asked
Tehran
to explain some
"grey areas" of its atomic programme.
The unusual move to open facilities comes as
Tehran
works to garner
support for its atomic drive in the run-up to the
Istanbul
talks on January 21 and 22.
Salehi on Wednesday said that
Iran
will not discuss its "nuclear dossier" during the
Istanbul
talks.
But E.U. chief diplomat Catherine Ashton, who represents the six powers in
negotiations with
Iran
,
said on Thursday
Tehran
's nuclear controversy would figure in the talks.
"I'm very clear that we are coming to discuss the nuclear issue and that
is what we will do," Ashton told reporters after meeting with Turkish
Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in
Istanbul
.
"Our purpose in meeting is to now look for tangible credible ways to make
a move forward" she added.