Khatami Defends Iran's Right to Acquire Advanced Nuclear Technology

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Thursday, June 19, 2003

Khatami Defends Iran's Right to Acquire Advanced Nuclear Technology

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Iranian President Mohammad Khatami strongly defended Iran's right to acquire advanced nuclear technology while rejected "politically-motivated and groundless accusations and pressures on Iran" on Wednesday.

Khatami reiterated Iran's readiness for cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), demanding that IAEA helpIran acquire the nuclear energy know-how.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency is obliged to prepare for Iran's acquisition of nuclear know-how according to the treaty which we have signed," the official IRNA news agency quoted the president as saying.

Iran, which is a party to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), is blaming the international nuclear watchdog for the sanctions which Iran says has kept it from acquiring the nuclear energy technology.

"We have no problem on cooperation with IAEA and have always announced that we reserve the right to acquire the advanced nucleartechnology. We also hope that members of NPT will help Iran with cheaper and more convenient acquisition of the nuclear know-how," Khatami said.

In a response to Washington's allegations that Iran intended to use its nuclear energy programs as a cover to build weapons of massdestruction, Khatami said "Iran has always cooperated with IAEA andwill continue its cooperation in order to make issues transparent and dispel certain charges."

IAEA has called on Iran to sign an additional protocol to the NPT, which paves the way for surprise visit of the country's nuclear sites by IAEA inspectors.

Khatami repeated Iran's condition that it wanted the sanctions removed if the IAEA wanted Tehran to sign the protocol.

"We do not seek any privilege for joining this protocol. Our demand is because of being a signatory of NPT, all members of the treaty have the right to be provided with the nuclear technology," he said.

Khatami said Iran does not seek to acquire atomic weapons.

"We believe that having atomic arms does not bring security. We have always been and still are among the messengers for the region to be devoid of nuclear weapons," he said.

Khatami again raised the issue of Israel's nuclear arms.

"Israel today, which has about 400 nuclear warheads, is a threatto the Middle East region. These warheads are enough to annihilate the earth and we consider proliferation of these arms as dangerous."

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