Iran had invited many ambassadors to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to make the tour. But most countries said no, most prominently Russia, China, Turkey and Brazil.
Only six countries were actually represented on the tour: Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, Algeria, Egypt and Oman. But since Egypt is the current chair of the Non-Aligned Movement with 118 members and also the current chair of the Group of 77, a periodic gathering of 130 developing countries at the UN, the Islamic Republic told its public that representatives of more than 130 countries had visited.
A few days before the tour, Iran said ambassadors from seven countries would make the visit. It wasn’t known what country dropped out at the last moment to reduce the visitors to six.
US officials mocked the event as a “magical mystery tour” and said it was no substitute for a full inspection by experts from the IAEA. The Islamic Republic has never permitted IAEA inspectors to see the Arak reactor site.
Ali-Akbar Salehi, who is both Iran’s acting foreign minister and the chief of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, led the tour.
He said, “No country in the world will choose to open its nuclear facilities to others and Iran’s invitation reiterates the peaceful nature of its nuclear work.”
Actually, before the September 11, 2001, attacks, many nuclear power plants in the United States and Canada had visitors’ tours, but most, if not all, have stopped those tours out of security concerns.