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Iran nuclear activities irreversible: Lawmaker

Iran Press TV

Wed Jul 17, 2013 1:10PM GMT

An Iranian lawmaker says Tehran's nuclear energy activities are irreversible, stressing that the next Iranian administration will use transparency to disambiguate the issue.

Member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Mohammad Esmaili said on Wednesday that the main issue in talks between Iran and the P5+1 group - China, Russia, France, Britain and the US plus Germany - is that acquiring peaceful nuclear energy is Iran's inalienable right.

"The era of forbidding Iran from achieving [nuclear] energy is past," he added.

The lawmaker said all countries have a right to use nuclear technology and no one can prevent its use by different countries.

'If the negotiating group and other Western states recognize Iran's inalienable right to acquire nuclear energy, negotiations will yield acceptable results,' Esmaili pointed out.

Iran and the P5+1 group have held several rounds of talks on a range of issues, with the main focus being on Iran's nuclear energy program. The two sides wrapped up their latest round of negotiations on April 6 in the Kazakh city of Almaty. An earlier meeting had been held in Almaty on February 26-27.

On Monday, Russian Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations Pyotr Ilyichov and China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the world body, Wang Min, called for the resumption of Iran-P5+1 talks as soon as possible.

The United States, Israel, and some of their allies have repeatedly accused Iran of pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that the Iranian nuclear program has been diverted toward military objectives.

MP/HGH/SS