Iran Invites European Union, Russia and China to Tour Nuclear Sites. . . but not the United States

By Douglas V. Gibbs

According to the Associated Press, in the hopes of gaining support in a new round of nuclear talks, Iran has invited Russia, China, the European Union, and Iran's allies among the Arab and developing world, to tour its nuclear sites.

The United States was not invited.

This sudden invitation to these nations to tour Iran's nuclear facilities is merely weeks before the new round of talks between Iran, and the permanent U.N. Security Council members (plus Germany).

While Iran has been insisting its uranium enrichment and other programs are meant only for peaceful purposes to generate fuel for a future network of nuclear reactors, the overall opinion of The West is that Tehran is seeking nuclear weapons. As a result of this opinion, the U.N. Security Council has been demanding a freeze on Iran's uranium enrichment program. Iranian negotiators have continually refused to discuss such demands.

Iran has been repeatedly defiant to those nations questioning the Islamic Republic's nuclear plans, and had also refused to cooperate with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency probe meant to follow up on suspicions that it experimented with components of a nuclear weapons program.

As the one nation not invited, the United States has been the greatest critic of Iran's nuclear endeavors.

The U.S. State Department indicates that Iran's continued enrichment activities are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and "demonstrate Iran's disregard for its international obligations regarding its nuclear program."

Leaving the United States out of the tours of the Iranian nuclear sites will not alter America's resolve, but that is the key to the move. The invitations to Russia and China may be an attempt to exacerbate the gap between the Eastern and Western powers meeting the Iranians in Istanbul. Iran's hopes, then, would be to take advantage of those differences.

Iran, over the last nine years, has expanded its nuclear program, now running close to 9,000 centrifuges at Natanz, the site in central Iran.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary

AP Exclusive:Iran invites EU, others to nuke sites - Washington Post