Iran Agrees to UN Inspection

Maybe Iran isn't barreling toward war after all. Western diplomats say Iran has agreed to allow UN nuclear inspectors into the country, with the trip currently scheduled for Jan. 28, the Wall Street Journal reports. That surprise move came as the speaker of Iran's parliament announced yesterday that the country had agreed to Turkey's proposal to host nuclear talks between Iran and the permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany.

"The negotiations can yield results if they are serious and not a game," the speaker said on state-run TV, according to the AFP, which notes that both moves follow the assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist on Wednesday and increasingly tighter economic sanctions. So far it's unclear how much latitude the UN team will have, or whether it'll finally get its long-sought interview with suspected nuclear program leader Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. "The exact agenda isn't clear," said one Western diplomat. "We're expecting the meeting to happen."