A tour operator in Dorking in Surrey is preparing to send tourists on a holiday with a difference: trips to visit nuclear enrichment plants in “axis of evil” Iran.

After the surprise announcement by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that the Islamic Republic of Iran’s nuclear facilities will be opened to tourists, Persian Voyages says it is “awaiting formal instructions” on how to arrange visits, but is considering including nuclear plant stop-offs in its next trip in December.

Nasrin Etemadi, managing director of Persian Voyages, the UK’s leading tour operator of trips to Iran, said: “We were very surprised by the announcement. I think it was made to show that Iran is a peaceful place. If even tourists can see nuclear facilities then it must be peaceful.”

Etemadi, who is originally from Iran, said: “We are looking into it and I think the tourist board is finalising arrangements for tours.”

She said that tourists would be taken to one of the biggest nuclear facilities between Kashan and Isfahan, Iran’s ancient capital, renowned for its turquoise-domed mosques, palaces and medieval bridges.

Mohammad Sharif Malekzadeh, the deputy head of Iran’s Tourism Organisation, told Iranian state radio that he wanted to prove that Iran’s nuclear programme was peaceful: “The Islamic Republic of Iran’s transparency is so great that it opens the way for all domestic and foreign tourists, elites and learned people to visit these Iranian nuclear energy centres and sites,” he said.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not advise against tourist trips to Iran, although it recommends staying away from border regions with Afghanistan and Iraq. However, its advisory says: “There is a threat from terrorism in Iran. Attacks could be indiscriminate and against civilian targets.”

The Lonely Planet guide to the Middle East says “misconceptions about Iran are so many and so misleading that the majority of the Western world sees it as a mysterious, dangerous wasteland full of hostile, crazy Arabs: how wrong they are . . . Iran is a fascinating mix of modern and ancient, of East and West, of the exotic and the mundane”.

Etemadi also believes there is an image problem. At the moment she takes about 70 tourists a year to the country. Tours, which start at £1,460 and cover 15 days, leave in December, April and May. “Not many people go to Iran, but it is such a beautiful country. It is vast with beautiful monuments. You go to them and no one is there; maybe ten people. You can also see flowers and wildlife. You can go trekking. It’s safe. The people are so welcoming.”

Patricia Baker, author of the Iran: The Bradt Travel Guide, agreed: “Everyone is incredibly friendly. I’m waiting to see what happens with the nuclear tours with great interest.”

Other operators covering Iran include The Traveller and Ace Study Tours; both use expert guides.

Details: Persian Voyages (01306 885894, www.persianvoyages.com), The Traveller (020-7436 9343, www.the-traveller.co.uk), Ace Study Tours (01223 835055, www.study-tours.org), Iran (Bradt, £14.99, www.bradtguides.com).