As ties warm, EU parliament delegation visits Iran

Tehran: A European Parliament delegation has arrived in Iran, the first visit to Tehran by the EU`s legislative institution in more than six years.

Iran`s official IRNA news agency said today the eight-member delegation will stay until Wednesday. The delegation will meet Iranian lawmakers and officials, as well as dissident filmmaker Jafar Panahi and human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh who jointly won the European Parliament`s prestigious Sakharov prize in 2012. The visit is a sign of warming ties in the wake of an interim deal reached in November in Geneva between the Islamic Republic and six world powers to ease some sanctions on Iran for a series of nuclear concessions. The world powers fear Iran`s goal is to produce atomic weapons. Tehran says its program is solely for peaceful purposes.