Soltanieh: Iran to cooperate with IAEA, continue N-enrichment
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Belgrade, June 20, IRNA
Iran-Nuclear-Soltanieh
Iran's IAEA envoy Ali-Asghar Soltanieh said here Thursday that while cooperating with the IAEA, Iran will continue nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes.
"While fully cooperating with the IAEA, Iran will continue with nuclear enrichment for peaceful purposes because it completely concords with the IAEA Safeguards and the international institution's experts have never spoken of diversion of Iran's nuclear program towards non-peaceful ends," said Soltanieh in a press conference here.
Soltanieh underlined that Iran does not wish for different reasons, including the religious ground, to use nuclear energy for military intentions.
He said that Iran has always been insisting ban on proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and of the chemical, biological and nuclear arms as it had itself been a victim of the mass destruction chemical weapons -- 100,000 Iranians were hurt by such weapons that were applied during rein of Iraq's Saddam.
The Iranian diplomat, as "the only nuclear physician among the IAEA diplomats", said that Iran had during the 1980-88 war had a chemical industry more sophisticated than Iraq's but declined to reciprocate Baghdad's chemical attacks those times.
"Iran does not wish production of nuclear arms because the practice, while being in contradiction with religious beliefs, would be a `strategic blunder,'" he declared.
Iran is supported by more than one billion people worldwide and 118 NAM states for its peaceful nuclear activities, said Soltanieh, adding, "For Iran such a support is times more important and valuable than access to nuclear arms."
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