In last-minute move, Turkey absent from team of Iran nuclear site inspectors

Turkish representatives were missing from a team of international envoys that inspected two nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend at Tehran's invitation. Also absent from the delegation were representatives from major world powers, including the United States and China. Alongside the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations, the group of seven envoys was made up of ambassadors to the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Egypt, Venezuela, Syria, Algeria, Oman and Cuba. The group, which will stay in Iran through today, visited the unfinished heavy water reactor near Arak in central Iran on Saturday and was to tour Iran's main uranium enrichment facility near Natanz on Sunday. Turkey responded to the Iranian invitation with caution, fearing that accepting it could cast a shadow over its status as host of the next round of nuclear talks between Iran and world powers starting on Friday. But unlike the European Union, which outright rejected the offer to come to Iran to conduct inspections, Ankara gave no clear indication that it would decline the invitation until the last minute.