Iran Agrees to Inspection of Secret Qom Nuke site

GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct. 1, 2009— -- Talks between Iran and the West ended on a positive note today with Iran granting inspectors access to its secret facility at Qom.

The European Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, announced that Iran had agreed to "cooperate fully" with the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] on the recently-disclosed site.

These inspections are due to take place in the "next couple of weeks," according to Solana.

This announcement was shortly followed by a statement from the IAEA. "Director General ElBaradei has been invited to Tehran by Iranian authorities. He will travel there soon to discuss a number of matters."

Speaking at the same press conference the Iranian delegation appeared equally upbeat.

"We had broad talks. This meeting created a good opportunity for fresh cooperation to remove international concerns," Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief negotiator told a news conference.

The two sides agreed to meet again before the end of the month.

The talks also bore witness to the first high-level bilateral meeting between Iranian and U.S. officials since Washington severed relations with the Islamic Republic three decades ago following the takeover of the U.S. embassy and the subsequent hostage crisis.

"On the margins of the meeting, Under Secretary Bill Burns met with his Iranian counterpart Saeed Jalili," Robert Wood, State Department Deputy Spokesman told ABC News.

Burns and Jalili held a discussion officials described as "significant" during the lunch break of the talks between Iran and the five permanent member-nations of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany which were being held today in Geneva.

Burns, who heads the U.S. negotiating team, was there to deliver some firm demands to the Iranians, most notably to press them for access to the "secret" nuclear facility in Qom that was revealed last week.

A U.S. official described the one-on-one meeting with Iranians as "largely a statement of the positions of the Iranians and the P5+1, which included the need for unfettered access to Qom, and the need for concrete steps to demonstrate that the Iranian nuclear program is peaceful."

This meeting marks a sharp contrast to the last time the two met in July 2008 when Burns reportedly left the room to avoid shaking hands with Jalili.