Ahmadinejad: Iran’s nuclear program not beyond NPT

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Iran’s nuclear energy program does not pursue anything beyond the content of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and welcomes any proposal for nuclear cooperation.

In a meeting with former Japanese Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, in Tehran on Sunday, Ahmadinejad said Iran is still ready for negotiations over its nuclear energy program.

“The demands put forth by the negotiating groups have been one-sided, this comes while we believe the negotiations should be two-sided,” he added.

The Iranian president said Iran and Japan can work toward a world free of atomic weapons.

“Of course, achieving that goal is a tough task since those countries with atomic weapons are powerful and dominate [the world’s] decision-making centers,” he stated.

Ahmadinejad went on to say that the Western states are against Iran and waste no opportunity to hurt the Islamic Republic.

Underlining the need to rid the world of nuclear weapons, Ahmadinejad said no country should try to impose its will on others.

“All governments and nations should take part in global management [system] because as economic monopoly leads to corruption, political monopoly also results in corruption,” he added.

Japan’s former premier, for his part, criticized the International Atomic Energy Agency for applying double standards toward certain countries including Iran, saying such a treatment is unfair.

During his trip to Iran, Hatoyama also met with Iran’s Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and Secretary of Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili.