The head of the UN atomic agency said that Iran has invited the agency to visit Arak nuclear site, as he cautioned that time is needed to “verify Iran’s compliance” with its landmark new nuclear deal with world powers.

The head of the UN atomic agency said that Iran has invited the agency to visit Arak nuclear site, as he cautioned that time is needed to “verify Iran's compliance” with its landmark new nuclear deal with world powers.

International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yuyika Amano said on Thursday that Iran has invited the agency to visit the heavy water production plant at Arak on December 8, in what would be the first inspection there since August 2011.

Iran's invitation to the IAEA ties in with a separate "joint statement on a framework for cooperation" signed in Tehran by Iran and Amano on November 11 aimed at Iran providing increased transparency.

"We are now looking at the way in which the elements of the agreement relevant to the Agency could be put into practice,” Amano told a closed-door meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, according to the text of his remarks.

"This will include the implications for funding and staffing. This analysis will take some time.”

In a major diplomatic breakthrough on Sunday in Geneva, Iran agreed with the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany -- the P5+1 -- to curb parts of its nuclear program for six months in exchange for sanctions relief.

This six-month period has not begun and the start-date will be negotiated in upcoming "technical discussions" that will include the IAEA, according to a spokesman for P5+1 chief negotiator and EU foreign policy head Catherine Ashton.