Iran's Permanent
Ambassador at IAEA Ali Asqar Soltaniyeh said in an interview with
Belgrade-based Politika daily Iran's nuclear activities are quite
transparent, which is why Western media have after years of hue and
cry chosen to remain silent on the issue.
Politika's reporter asked Soltaniyeh's viewpoint on US suspicions on
Iran's nuclear plans and that Washington has repeatedly accused Iran
of efforts aimed at manufacturing atomic bombs, mainly referring to
Iran's over 3,000 centrifuges that are enriching uranium.
Soltaniyeh replied, "The IAEA inspectors are monitoring the
activities and checking the production of our 3,000 centrifuges
constantly so that during the past three months 14 IAEA inspectors
have attended the centers in which our centrifuges are functioning."
He added, "Whenever they decide to inspect our nuclear sites they
inform us two to three hours prior to their entry to Iran and
inspect any of our sites that they choose quite freely and
carefully." The reporter asked whether Iran has halted issuing
permits for IAEA inspectors' visits of its nuclear sites.
Soltaniyeh replied, "Despite the Western mass media's claim in that
regard, Iran has never halted issuing permits for IAEA inspectors
and they have always been able to visit any site they have wished to
throughout Iran."
He added, "That is Iran's general policy in that respect and the
Iranian Government has recently ratified two documents regarding our
country's legal obligations in which the matter is precisely
stated." Soltaniyeh also said, "The Western media's past months'
silence over our peaceful nuclear activities is surprising, since as
we remember the US-led military attack against Iraq began over the
claim that Saddam's regime possessed nuclear weapons, but later on
it was reveled there were no such weapons found in Iraq."
He said, "Keep in mind that during the period that the West was
suspicious about the activities pursued at Iran's 27 nuclear sites
the IAEA inspectors took 240 various samples from those sites, but
traced absolutely no irregularities in them and Mr. ElBaradei's
report is proof that the claims in that respect were entirely
baseless and that Iran is not pursuing any military objectives in
its peaceful nuclear program."
Politika daily's military affairs analyst continued in the same
line, "You know well that Iraq was not attacked because the West
suspected it had military weapons, since the Westerners knew well
they did not have them, but on the contrary, Iran is today armed
with ballistic missiles, such as your Shahab III rockets with their
950 km range and you are further improving them.
"If such rockets are not meant to be armed with a nuclear warheads,
what else would you need them for?"
Soltaniyeh replied, "Manufacturing such rockets, as you said is a
natural right for entire countries for self defense purposes, but
regarding the other part of your question about arming them with
nuclear warheads, do you really think we are capable of competing
with the United States that has over 7,000 nuclear warheads in that
respect, even if we had such an intention?"
He added, "That is while if supposedly Iran would intend to
manufacture a singe nuclear warhead taking advantage of the material
it has at its disposal currently that means signing the document of
its own destroying automatically, which is naturally a grave
strategic mistake."
Soltaniyeh said, "Iran's point of strength today is not due to
possession of nuclear weapons, that we neither have, nor intend to
manufacture, but thanks to the support of millions of people around
the globe, as well as the righteousness of our country in pursuing
our peaceful nuclear activities."
He added, "If the Americans are
intimidated due to this worldwide support for Iran they had better
also realize that it is partly due to the disgusting behavior of the
US administrations throughout the world and the world nations'
realizing of the fact."
Iran's Ambassador at the IAEA said in his interview with Serbia's
Politika daily, "Our religion has forbidden usage of weapons of mass
destruction, and as you remember during the course of the Iraqi
imposed war, although Iran was several times attached by Iraqi
weapons of mass destruction, we never took advantage of chemical
weapons against them."
The reporter asked, "Do you mean that Iran's nuclear activities are
merely aimed at non-military purposes?"
Iran's representative replied, "Yes, I definitely say that Iran's
nuclear program is merely non-military, and aimed at production of
electricity, as well as usage in medical and agricultural fields."
He added, "If a country can manufacture centrifuges with very high
speed this means that that country has mastered most advanced
technologies and that is a lot more important than having nuclear
bombs."
Politika reporter asked, "Iran is also accused of nuclear
cooperation with North Korea in production of its own centrifuges."
Soltaniyeh said, "Our centrifuges are for uranium enrichment, but
the North Korean centrifuges are for plutonium production, and that
is a big technological difference."
He added, "You will not be
able of increasing Uranium's enrichment degree overnight and we are
not after manufacturing nuclear bombs but on the contrary, favoring
the spread of peace and security at the international scene.
During his visit of Belgrade Soltaniyeh also took part at a press
conference and had two meetings with analysts at Economic and
political Affairs Research Institute and Serbia's National Security
College, in which he elaborated on our country's peaceful nuclear
program, quoting proof from involved international agencies' related
reports.