[Ref: Richard Norton-Taylor and Dan De Luce (in Tehran), "Conciliatory Tehran agrees to talks on UN nuclear inspections", The Guardian (London), July 1, 2003, p. 13]

Iran appeared to soften its stance yesterday on allowing snap inspections of its nuclear programme, under growing international pressure. It invited the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss Tehran's cooperation.

Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of the Iranian supreme national security council, told the British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, that it would invite Mohammed ElBaradei for talks "to remove technical problems", the state news agency reported. The IAEA in Vienna said Mr ElBaradei had accepted the invitation.