China has received an invitation from Iran to visit its nuclear sites, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

China will maintain its communications with Iran on the matter, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters at a regular news briefing.

Hong said China expects all parties to value the results of the Geneva talks and to push for constant progress in the dialogue process in the spirit of cooperation, flexibility and pragmatism.

China urges all parties to seek common ground and calls for joint efforts to settle the Iran nuclear issue, Hong added.

Iran has invited several ambassadors from the European Union, nonaligned nations, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and others to visit its nuclear sites, an Iranian foreign ministry spokesman said at a press briefing Tuesday.

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany held two-day talks in December in Geneva. The talks ended with both sides agreeing to meet again in late January in Turkey's largest city, Istanbul.