VIENNA, Austria, Jan. 7--IAEA Spokeswoman Melissa Fleming welcomed here Thursday Iran's decision to allow inspection of Parchin military site, terming the measure as Òpositive and vitalÓ.
An Iranian delegation arrived in Vienna on Friday to hold talks with International Atomic Energy Agency's senior officials on the timetable and nature of visits to Parchin military sites.
Fleming also told IRNA the visit of Iranian delegation takes place following Iran's agreement with the visit of IAEA's inspectors from Parchin sites.
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei announced on Wednesday that Iran has agreed to inspection of Parchin military site in southeast Tehran.
In an exclusive interview with IRNA, she described Iran's decision as a voluntary and confidence-building move and said the country proved that it is functioning very transparently.
ÒIAEA inspectors will arrive in Tehran in the coming days to inspect the Parchin site,Ó she said.
Based on the nonproliferation treaty, the IAEA cannot inspect military sites of countries unless they have enough proof or evidence to justify such inspection.
As a general practice, the IAEA will only inspect suspected nuclear sites.
Fleming pointed out Iran has always rejected claims of any attempt to develop nuclear weapons.
Highlighting the importance of Parchin's inspection, she said a number of countries have accused Iran of trying to produce nuclear weapons at Parchin military site.
ÒTherefore, it is very important for the IAEA inspectors to inspect the site and ensure Iran's peaceful application of nuclear technology,Ó he said.
Fleming admitted that the international community has exerted pressure on IAEA to verify Iran's nuclear activities.
According to an agreement reached between Iran and the IAEA, the agency's inspectors are only authorized to inspect non-military zones.

A religious ceremony is underway at one of the Armenian churches in Tehran. (Fars News Photo)

TEHRAN, Jan. 7--Ceremony marking the birth anniversary of Prophet Jesus (PBUH) was held at Tehran's Armenian Church on Thursday.
According to IRNA, Archbishop Sebo Sarkisian, who conducted the rituals for the ceremony, underlined that Christ's message is peace and friendship.
"We pray that God grant patience to all the oppressed people, including the residents of the occupied Palestine, and establish justice worldwide," he said.
After the archbishop's speech, a special prayer ceremony was held.
Armenians, who are Orthodox Christians, celebrate the birth anniversary of Christ on Jan. 6.
Meanwhile, Isfahan's Orthodox Christians also on Thursday held a special ceremony at Vank Church to celebrate Christ's Last Supper.
There are 20 churches in Isfahan, 13 of which belong to Orthodox Armenians and the rest to Catholics and Protestants.
Isfahan's Armenian population mostly reside in Isfahan, Shahinshahr and Fereydounshahr. There are 8,000 Armenians in Isfahan.

NEW DELHI, India,
Jan. 7--India has reached an agreement with Iran to buy 7.5 million tons of liquefied natural gas a year over 25 years, the government announced Friday.
Oil Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar sealed India's first big gas deal with his Iranian counterpart Bijan Namdar Zanganeh on the sidelines of an Asian ministers' oil meeting in New Delhi.
"India's state-run Gas Authority of India Limited and Indian Oil Corp have signed an agreement with National Iranian Gas Export Corp Friday to import 7.5 million tons of LNG for 25 years," Aiyar said in a statement, AFP reported.
Zanganeh confirmed the agreement but neither minister gave details of the pricing formula. Negotiations had begun in January 2003 as India sought to meet a huge need for gas in the country of more than one billion people.
India had been pushing for a fixed-term/fixed-price contract similar to a deal it has with Qatar, but Iran had signaled unwillingness to agree to such terms.
India and Iran had failed to reach an agreement last month when Aiyar went to Tehran to attend an oil and gas industry conference.
The government statement also said India's state-run Oil and Natural gas Corp's overseas arm has entered into an agreement with the National Iranian Oil Company to take a 20-percent stake in Iran's Yadavaran field and an unspecified stake in the Jufeyr field. "The Iranian side further offered to the Indian companies the opportunities for investments for producing fertilizers, ethylene, methanol, ammonia and other things in Iran," he added.
ÒThe Iranian side also suggested that Indian firms could set up energy-intensive projects such as aluminum, cement and steel firms.Ó
Aiyar declared that state-run Indian Oil Corporation, the country's largest oil refining and marketing company, would explore investment opportunities in Iran.

AMMAN, Jordan,
Jan. 7--Iraq's neighbors on Thursday called for a massive turnout in the country's landmark elections and pledged not to interfere in Iraq's internal affairs, as they concluded a four-hour meeting in Jordan.
In a show of unity underscoring the urgency of the situation, the foreign ministers of Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Turkey and a senior Iranian official said Iraqis must freely decide their future at the polls, AFP reported.
A 12-point statement said the delegates agreed "to reconfirm their respect for the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Iraq as well as the relevance of the principles of non-interference in internal affairs...and the principle of good neighborly relations".
They also "affirm the right of the Iraqi people to a secure and stable life and to determine freely their future through democratic means," and commit themselves to helping Iraqis reach these goals.
"In this regard the ministers urge all segments of the broad spectrum of the Iraqi people to take up their duty in the forthcoming elections, thus contributing to the shaping of their future.
"The elections represent the only opportunity in sight along the path of democracy and freedom," the statement added.
The delegates, including Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Gholamali Khoshroo, agreed to hold a new meeting devoted to Iraq in Istanbul, Turkey, after the January 30 vote.
Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulki opened the meeting with a passionate appeal on the Iraqis to seize the "golden opportunity" and massively vote in the election that will choose a national assembly to draft a constitution.
He also warned that a boycott of the polls made by several Iraqi groups, notably Sunni Muslim parties, will pave the way for external meddling in Iraq.
Khoshroo, whose foreign minister boycotted the conference over allegations by Jordan's King Abdullah II that Shiite Iran was trying to bring about a Shiite victory in Iraq, said Iraq's neighbors should "facilitate and encourage" the election.
The conference was also attended by Egypt, the UN envoy to Iraq and Bahrain.
The United Nations envoy to Baghdad Ashraf Qazi said Thursday that Iran and Iraq's other neighbors have a "common interest" in guaranteeing the embattled country hold landmark elections later this month.
Asked to comment on a spate of accusations from Jordan, Iraq and other countries that Iran was trying to influence the January 30 vote, Qazi told AFP: "there is very good cooperation between the regional countries".
Meanwhile, nine US soldiers were killed in Iraq in the bloodiest day for American forces this year as Prime Minister Iyad Allawi extended emergency laws in a bid to quell violence ahead of the January 30 elections.
Concern was also mounting for the fate of a French reporter missing in Iraq.
Amid the mounting unrest, the New York Times reported that US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is sending a retired general to Iraq to conduct an "open-ended" review of the US military's Iraq policy, including troop levels, focusing on how best to train Iraqi soldiers and police.

Mohamed ElBaradei

TOKYO, Jan. 7--UN atomic energy chief Mohamed ElBaradei has proposed that all countries lead by example by committing not to build facilities for uranium enrichment and nuclear reprocessing for five years.
Iran has agreed to suspend uranium enrichment temporarily in a deal with the European Union, while North Korea is refusing to return to talks over US allegations the communist state enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons, AFP reported.
ElBaradei told the Asahi Shimbun in Friday's edition that a global freeze on construction for uranium enrichment and nuclear reprocessing would be discussed at a May conference in New York on the nuclear nonproliferation treaty.
Such a moratorium would have value as it would place "some limitation on the right of every country to develop a full (nuclear) fuel cycle," he said.
He said a global freeze could last for five years or "until we have completed our work on how we can have an international arrangement for the fuel cycleÓ.
"We have enough capacity in the world for enrichment or reprocessing," said ElBaradei who heads the International Atomic Energy Agenc.
"We should not forget the commitment by the weapons states to move toward nuclear disarmament," he said.
ElBaradei said revisions to the world's nuclear framework had become more urgent after the admission last year by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, of alleged transfers in nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The Asahi Shimbun said ElBaradei did not discuss how such a global freeze would affect Japan's controversial tests on depleted uranium which began last month in the northern town of Rokkasho-mura as part of efforts to reuse spent nuclear fuel.

TEHRAN, Jan. 7--A new political party named Front for Consolidating Democracy was formed on Friday.
According to IRNA, the party's spokesman, Saeed Yari, said the founding mottoes of the front are Òadherence to the constitution, democracy, freedom, human rights and justice in light of religious valuesÓ.
"Upgrading the civil society, abidance by meritocracy with the priority being the young elite and continuation of the reform movement in all domains are other guidelines of the front," he said.
The front currently consists of 14 member groups and more groups are expected to join in future. Democracy Party, Iran's Unity party, Independent League of Islamic Iran, Society of Tomorrow's Iran, Party for Defense of Sacrificers and the Constitution, Society of Academicians of Isfahan province, Party for Friendship and Amity, Assembly of Abu Reyhan Birooni College (affiliated to Tehran University) Alumni, League of Supporters of Law and Order, Youth Participation Party, House of Iranian Teachers, Vali Asr Institute and Institute for Solidarity of Iranian Teachers are some of the affiliated groups.