Iran voiced optimism over a visit by an IAEA delegation, saying the team could extend its stay in the Islamic Republic beyond the three days originally planned.

Iran voiced optimism over a visit by an IAEA delegation, saying the team could extend its stay in the Islamic Republic beyond the three days originally planned.

"We are very optimistic on the results of the IAEA trip. They are here for a three-day trip, and if they want, it (the mission) could be extended”, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi was quoted by IRNA as telling Turkish broadcaster TRT in an interview in Addis Ababa.

The minister also urged the European Union and the United States to "replace their policy of sanctions with interaction" with the Islamic republic.

Salehi asserted the Islamic Republic’s rights to uranium enrichment and atomic energy.  
"No one has the right to tell us to halt enrichment. Enrichment is our right based on the NPT and our being an official member of IAEA, and no one has the right to ask us to stop this legal activity," he said, in Addis Ababa, where he was attending an African Union summit.

Salehi said Iran "fully adheres" to IAEA regulations and would maintain transparency in its activities.
"The inspection delegation can visit any of our nuclear sites it requests to visit," he said.

Iran confirms its program is for peaceful ends only insisting that is its right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) while Israel, which is believed to be the sole nuclear power in the Middle East with more than 200 nuclear heads, is not a signatory for this treaty.