IAEA head says Iran invited inspectors to visit two nuke facilities

LONDON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Iran has invited inspectors to visit a nuclear facility covered by an agreement reached with Western powers, the head of the inspection agency said Thursday.

Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said inspectors had been invited to visit a heavy water production plant in Arak Dec. 8, The New York Times reported Thursday.

Speaking to the IAEA governing board, Amano said he visited Tehran Nov. 11, where he and high-ranking Iranian officials agreed inspectors could have "managed access" to the Arak facility and the Gachin mine in Bandar Abbas.

Amano said no agreement was reached to allow inspection of the Parchin military site southwest of the capital. The IAEA believes the site was once used for testing nuclear triggers, the Times said.

The IAEA inspections are not linked to the agreement reached last week between Iran and Western powers. However, part of the agreement called for the Arak plant to end production of nuclear fuel, stop the installation of additional reactor components and not to put the plant into operation.

The head of a major Pakistani religious organization says Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had a "central role in resolving Iran's nuclear issue " in last week's negotiations, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Allama Raja Nasir Abbas Jafari, chief of the Shiite religious and political party Majlis-e-Wehdatul Muslimeen, also praised "the leadership of Iran for not yielding to Western pressure and standing firm upon their ground."

He claimed the United States was eager to reach an agreement with Iran "because its economy is deteriorating."