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Straw sees diplomatic solution possible in Iran nuke stand-off

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Islamabad, Feb 14, Kyodo/IRNA -- Visiting British Foreign Secretary 
Jack Straw said Monday he discussed Iran`s nuclear program with the 
Pakistani leadership and believes an "amicable and diplomatic" 
solution to the discord can be found. 
He told a joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart 
that as a member of the EU3 committee he and the foreign ministers 
of France and Germany have been trying to persuade Iran to comply 
with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and other non- 
proliferation measures to which Iran is a signatory. 
"We have to believe that there can be, and there ought to be, a 
diplomatic solution to the problem," he said. 
Pakistan`s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said in his 
opening remarks that Straw had informed the Pakistani leadership of 
the ongoing dialogue between the European Union and Iran. 
"Under the NPT, Iran has a right to its peaceful nuclear program 
consistent with its commitment to other non-proliferation obligations.
Any doubts or disagreements that may arise regarding implementation 
of obligations undertaken by states should be resolved peacefully," 
Kasuri said in a prepared statement. 
Pakistani officials have often said they would like to help in 
the parleys in which the international community is urging Iran to 
give up its uranium enrichment and heavy water reactor projects, 
which could be used in the manufacture of a nuclear weapon. 
Iran has said it has a right to the peaceful use of nuclear 
energy under the NPT and would not give up that right. 
Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz will visit Iran from 
Saturday and officials said matters relating to the Iranian nuclear 
program and ongoing dialogue with the European Union would come under 
discussion between the two sides. 
Straw was asked if he had raised the question of supply of nuclear
technology to North Korea by Pakistan`s disgraced nuclear scientist 
A.Q. Khan and the access to him being sought by the Vienna-based 
International Atomic Energy Agency to find out the full facts about 
his proliferation activities. 
"I have not directly raised this matter with the Pakistani 
leadership, but we have a special confidence in President General 
Pervez Musharraf and the Pakistan government in the way they are 
dealing with the aftermath of the revelations of Dr. A.Q. Khan," he 
said. 
Kasuri said Pakistan has not closed investigations into Khan`s 
proliferation activities and if any new information was brought by 
the United States or Britain against him he would be confronted with 
such information. 
Khan, who is regarded as the father of Pakistan`s nuclear 
program, confessed last year to selling nuclear technology to Iran, 
Libya and North Korea. 
He is now confined to his former official residence. 
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