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Iran brushes aside US-led pressures over nuclear program

IRNA

 Tehran, June 8, IRNA -- Iran on Sunday shrugged off US-led pressures  
over the country's "peaceful" nuclear energy programs and renewed its 
appeal to industrial nations to help Tehran acquire the nuclear       
know-how.
    "The capable Iran cannot be talked to with the language of force  
and threats and cannot be pressured to give up nuclear know-how,"     
Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said at the parliament, where he      
attended to answer MPs' questions.
    "The capable Iran must be approached with understanding and       
cooperation," he added, in response to an MP from northwestern        
Tabriz, Akbar Aalami's grilling about Tehran's signing of the         
Non-Proliferation Treaty.         
    "According to which basis and license did you sign the treaties to
question the right of the nation on determining their own fate and the
country's independence?" the parliamentarian asked Kharrazi.          
    The Islamic Republic, which is party to the NPT, has come under   
mounting pressures, apparently provoked by Washington, to sign an     
additional protocol which paves the way for more intrusive inspection 
of the country's nuclear energy facilities.  
    Kharrazi said "pressures will help radical thinking grow in Iran  
and this will not benefit the Islamic Republic and the region nor     
anyone else". 
    Tehran blames the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for   
the ongoing sanctions which have kept Iran from acquiring nuclear     
energy technology and has made signing the additional protocol        
conditional on lifting those sanctions.      
    Kharrazi repeated Iran's appeal to world countries to participate 
in the country's nuclear energy programs so as to verify in the flesh 
their peaceful nature.            
    "The Islamic Republic of Iran is capable of acquiring nuclear     
know-how and its invitation for other countries to participate in     
transferring the nuclear technology indicates Tehran's transparent    
policies," he said.               
    "The Islamic Republic's security doctrine is void of nuclear      
arms and Iran's use of nuclear technology is merely for peaceful      
intentions," Kharrazi added.      
BH/RR    
End