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Iran for plans giving equal nuclear rights to all states: Qashqavi

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, April 14, IRNA – Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi stressed Tuseday that Iran would support any idea or plan giving equal nuclear rights to all countries.

He made the remarks while responding to a question by IRNA on some recent vague reports about a proposal made by Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev about establishing an international nuclear fuel bank in the Caspian Sea state which is accessible from Iran by sea.

The proposal was raised by the Kazakh president during a visit to Astana by his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad which took place on April 6-7.

“The issue of setting up a nuclear fuel bank was raised by the Kazakh president during President Ahamdinejad’s visit to Kazakhstan,” Qashqavi said.

He stressed that raising new ideas or plans in uranium-related fields by Kazakhstan was quite “normal” as the country is one of the world’s few states which possess rich uranium resources.

Western media claimed that the global repository idea was part of a U.S.-backed plan “to put all uranium enrichment under strict international control.”

They added the establishment of such a repository would allow countries to tap into its reserves to fuel their nuclear plants “without having to develop their own enrichment capabilities.”

“What is highly important to Iran is that the idea or any other similar idea about the nuclear issue should envisage equal and fair rights for all world countries to get access to new technologies and knowledge,” Qashqavi said.

He added that any signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) had the right to embark on peaceful nuclear activities including uranium enrichment and developing nuclear fuel.

“All states have the natural right to export their nuclear items or fuel to any country under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Qashqavi said, stressing that “such activities should not be monopolized by certain states.”