Iran determined to pursue all legal areas of nuclear technology:Iran`s Soltanieh

TEHRAN,April 25(MNA) – The Iranian ambassador to the UN nuclear agency has said that Tehran is determined to push ahead with its peaceful nuclear program. Iran is determined to pursue “all legal areas of nuclear technology, including fuel cycle and enrichment technology, exclusively for peaceful purposes” and this will be carried out under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision, Ali Asghar Soltanieh told a meeting in Geneva on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Soltanieh, in an apparent reference to Israel which has not joined the NPT regime, said, “Iran is paying a heavy price for its membership and full commitment to the NPT while others outside the treaty are exempted from any inspection and sanctions, but receiving full nuclear cooperation of western countries, specifically the U.S. and Canada.” The IAEA said on Tuesday it will hold a meeting with Iran on May 15 aimed at reaching a deal for further investigation into Iran’s nuclear activities. Thomas Countryman, chief U.S. delegate to the NPT talks, said on Monday that Iran’s nuclear program poses the greatest threat to the credibility of the NPT, which aims to halt the spread of nuclear weapons. Iran and its ally Syria called for a conference aimed at banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East and urged major powers to stop helping Israel to acquire nuclear technology. The talks, which were supposed to be held last December in Helsinki after being agreed at a 2010 NPT conference, were postponed without a new date being set. Israel is widely believed to possess the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal but neither confirms nor denies having nuclear weapons. Syria’s Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui, told the Geneva conference, “The Israeli nuclear arsenals increase tension in an already explosive situation.” “We call on states, parties, especially nuclear states, to stop their support to Israel in developing its nuclear capabilities and prohibit providing it with nuclear technology. This should help pave the way for a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in the Middle East,” he said. Iran can be West’s ‘reliable partner’ in Middle East Elsewhere in his remarks, Soltanieh said that Iran would be a “reliable partner” in the Middle East if Western countries would take a more cooperative approach in talks on its nuclear program. He added that U.S. and European policies, including extensive sanctions on the Islamic Republic, were bound to fail. “Western countries are advised to change gear from confrontation to cooperation, the window of opportunity to enter into negotiation for long-term strategic cooperation with Iran, the most reliable, strong, and stable partner in the region, is still open,” he said. “Hostile policies of Western countries, including dual track, carrot and stick, sanctions-and-talks policies are doomed to failure,” the ambassador said.