China says Iran offers nuclear site visit before talks

Bloomberg: Iran invited China to visit its nuclear sites ahead of multination talks later this month, China said, as the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for sanctions on his country to be lifted.

Bloomberg

By Bloomberg News

Iran invited China to visit its nuclear sites ahead of multination talks later this month, China said, as the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls for sanctions on his country to be lifted.

“China has received the invitation from the Iranian side and will maintain communications with Iran on this,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters in Beijing today. China aims for all sides to “build up mutual trust and expand consensus and seek a proper settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue.”

Iran asked Russia, China, the European Union and some allies to visit nuclear sites, the Associated Press reported today. Iran suggested Jan. 15-16 for the tour, the AP cited senior Iranian envoy Ali Asghar Soltanieh as saying in a letter made available to the news agency.

Hong didn’t say today whether China would accept the invitation.

Iran agreed last month to more talks on its atomic program, while saying it would “absolutely not” suspend uranium enrichment. The next negotiations are planned this month in Istanbul between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group — comprising China, France, Germany, Russia, the U.K. and U.S.

Iran agreed to the new talks after a round of negotiations in Geneva. Iran’s nuclear program has drawn four sets of United Nations sanctions.

Iran says it’s producing enriched uranium to fuel atomic reactors for power generation. The U.S. and Europe suspect Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons.