S.Korea Shouldn’t Act Against Iran's Economic Interests: FM

Tehran, Dec 18, IRNA – South Korea should care not to join new sanctions against Iran's economic interests, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Salehi said here on Monday. He made the remarks in an interview with the Korean Herald daily. 'Seoul should review its decision to join the US lead oil sanctions against Iran; Tehran had always been helpful for the Korean companies in Iran would and expects the Koreans to be also helpful to Iran; Seoul and Tehran should expand relations in all fields after five decades of political exchange.' Salehi rejected the claims about Iran and North Korea cooperation in fields of military nuclear activities, adding that Tehran enjoys good relations with the Pyongyang as a member of the international community. 'Iran and South Korea enjoy good historical and cultural relations.' Zionist regime and its close ally the United States accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon, while they have never presented any corroborative document to substantiate their allegations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv possess advanced weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear warheads. Iran vehemently denies the charges, insisting that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry. Iran, an NPT-signatory, has also called for the removal of all weapons of mass destruction from across the globe. In pursuit of global nuclear disarmament, Tehran held a conference on nuclear disarmament on April 18-19, 2010 with officials from different world countries in attendance. During the two-day conference, world officials and politicians put their heads together to address issues and concerns in connection with nuclear disarmament. Despite Iran's compliance with the NPT, Washington and its Western allies accuse the country of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only. Political observers believe that the United States has remained at loggerheads with Iran mainly over the independent and home-grown nature of Tehran's nuclear technology, which gives the Islamic Republic the potential to turn into a world power and a role model for the other third-world countries. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plant./end