• Military

• WMD Menu                           

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Dy FM: Iran's nuclear transparency to be revealed through talks

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Rome, Nov 18, IRNA
Italy-Nuclear-Transparency
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Jalili, in an interview with the Italian daily, Corriere della Sera, said that the transparency of Iran's nuclear activities can be revealed through talks.

Jalili, who submitted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's message to the Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on Friday, referred to its content and said that both Italy and Iran are significant countries and inheritors of great civilizations.

"Italy is our first trade partner in Europe and the two countries have common views on various international issues. Therefore, cooperation between the two sides can contribute to promotion of world peace," he said, adding that this is the main topic of Ahmadinejad's letter.

In response to a question what Iran and Italy can do in this respect, he said, "Iran has signed up to NPT and is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Therefore it will comply with its commitments within the frameworks of the signed treaty." "Given the peaceful and non-military nature of our nuclear program, there are ways to prove it. The IAEA inspectors can proceed with their inspections based on the relevant regulations." The spokesman referred to the visit of 2,000 inspectors to Iran's nuclear facilities as an example.

"The uranium enrichment process was voluntarily suspended by Iran for two years. Besides, we proposed all countries to participate in our nuclear program.

"Such suspension was ratified by Majlis and we had to comply with the relevant bill and it continued until the country's nuclear dossier was sent to the United Nations Security Council," he added.

Asked about his reaction to such a letter (Ahmadinejad's) if he were in place of Prodi and Italian Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, he said, "In the letter, we have declared readiness for cooperation with Italy in various fields."

Turning to D'Alema's proposal for holding a conference on reconstruction of Afghanistan as an example, he said that this is a good domain for cooperation, given Iran's good relations with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Jalili said that campaign against cultivation of poppy in Afghanistan is also another good field for Iran-Italy cooperation.

About the concern of D'Alema over the comments of Iranian officials against the existence of Israel's government and his criticism, the deputy foreign minister said, "President Ahmadinejad's proposed plan on Palestine is based on full respect for human rights and there is no trace of violence in his remarks."

Concerning the death sentence of Saddam Hussein, Jalili said that conviction of a criminal will satisfy those judging the issue by their conscience.

"However, Iranians and Iraqis wonder about the reason the case was not referred to the UNSC when Saddam attacked Iran," he said.

2326/2322/1412