New Delhi, February 22
Iran today reassured the world community that its nuclear programme is meant for peaceful civilian purposes and the apprehensions of the USA and other Western countries are unfounded.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said nuclear weapons are not part of their national defence doctrine. “We do not have any programme to produce any (nuclear) weapon,” said Dr Kharrazi in an interview to ANI here.
He said Tehran is prepared to give any kind of guarantee to the world community on non-proliferation, while going ahead with enrichment of uranium for its civilian needs.
“We can arrive at a mechanism. While we can enjoy to have our technology for peaceful purposes, their concern will be removed,” referring to strong opposition from the USA and the West.
Iran’s defiant stand comes just ahead of US President George W. Bush’s visit to Europe to discuss with his allies on Iran and other foreign policy issues.
Washington and the European Union both want Tehran to scrap uranium enrichment, a process, which can be used to make fuel for nuclear power plants or bomb-grade material.
But the USA has refused to join an initiative by the EU, represented by France, Germany and Britain, to offer Iran incentives to curtail its nuclear programme.
“It is not the question of mediating between Iran and the USA, it is not a question of incentive for us to just forget about our rights. It is the question of how to remove the concerns that they have, to make sure that the Iranians are not going to divert towards a nuclear programme, nuclear weapon,” said Dr Kharrazi making a strong pitch for his country’s nuclear capability.
Iran has consistently maintained it has no intention of building nuclear weapons and has said it is prepared to provide “objective guarantees” that its nuclear facilities will not be used to make bombs. But it has not said what those guarantees could be.
Tehran faces possible referral to the Security Council and sanctions, and the threat of military attack —although Bush said on Friday military action was not Washington’s first choice for dealing with Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The Iranian minister is in New Delhi to fine-tune the gas pipeline project to supply natural gas to India through terrestrial pipeline traversing through Pakistan. The project which hit several roadblocks gained momentum after the recent thaw in Indo-Pak relations.
“The recent developments between India and Pakistan has had a lot of impact on many issues, including that (pipeline) project,” said Dr Kharrazi.
He said the project is expected to bring in major changes in the region, “that is why I have called it peace pipeline.” —
ANI
