Iran may allow visit to Parchin base

• Tweet

TEHRAN, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Iran may consider allowing U.N. inspectors to visit its Parchin military base provided Iran's nuclear rights are acknowledged, an Iranian official said.

"We are ready to reach a comprehensive agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency, including acknowledgment of Iran's legitimate rights, and in that case also the inspection of Parchin could be one of the agreements," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in Tehran Tuesday.

The Parchin military base is about 19 miles southeast of Tehran. Iran has denied the IAEA access to the site since 2005.

He confirmed reports Iran is converting part of its 20 percent enriched uranium into fuel for the Tehran research reactor and said reports have been sent to the IAEA., the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

He said Tehran repeatedly asked the IAEA to assist in supplying the fuel but when the requests were ignored, "we started to meet our demands with the help of the Iranian experts."