A senior Iranian official said on Sunday that Iran planned to invite representatives from Western countries to visit its nuclear sites, the local Fars news agency reported.

Gholamreza Aghazadeh, Iranian Vice President and head of the country's Atomic Energy Organization, made the remarks after a meeting with seven envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) troika and Group 77 states.

"Paying visit to Iranian nuclear sites by the western countries is not prohibited," said Aghazadeh, adding that "we actually have plans for some future visits to our nuclear facilities and installations by the representatives and envoys of these countries."

He underlined that transparency "is an indispensable part of our nuclear programs."

On Saturday, Iran showed its uranium conversion factory (UCF) in the central city of Isfahan to the envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) troika and Group 77 states.

The NAM envoys include Cuban, Malaysian and Egyptian ambassadors to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),while the Group 77 envoys are from Sudan and Bolivia.

Aghazadeh said that Iran would go on with its cooperation with the IAEA within the boundaries of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Meantime, he reiterated that "Iran will not comply with the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737", which called on Tehran to suspend its enrichment activities while imposing sanctions on Iran's nuclear and missile programs.

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2007)