Iran 'will never compromise rights' in nuclear programme

Tehran: Iran’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) today said his country “will never compromise its legitimate rights” in pursuing its atomic programme, despite a report strongly suggesting Tehran was engaged in nuclear weapons development. “As a responsible state, the Islamic republic of Iran will never compromise its legitimate rights and will continue to comply with its commitments under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh said, as cited by the official IRNA news agency. [caption id=“attachment_127497” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, attends an IAEA board of governors meeting at the UN headquarters in Vienna in September. Reuters”] [/caption] “Iran will continue its peaceful nuclear activities. And, just as many other previous claims were proven baseless, this time also they will not bear any results,” he said. Soltanieh stressed that Iran’s nuclear programme was entirely peaceful and that Iran would continue to cooperate with the IAEA, the UN’s nuclear watchdog. His comments came a day after the IAEA released its report saying “credible” evidence existed to suggest Iran had done work towards building nuclear warheads. Soltanieh, who yesterday dismissed the report as “politically motivated”, today accused IAEA chief Yukiya Amano of making a “historic mistake” in releasing  the document. Amano had displayed “unbalanced, unprofessional and political” behaviour in publishing the report, which contained “false claims” based on information from Iran’s arch-foe the United States and other countries, Soltanieh said. The United States used the report’s release to say it would seek to ratchet up pressure on Iran, which is already subject to international sanctions over its nuclear programme. The IAEA said in its report it had “serious concerns” over information that Iran “has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device.” AFP