Iran, UK foreign ministers meet in NY

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has held talks with his British counterpart, William Hague, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

Mottaki strongly urged London to revise its policies concerning Iran’s nuclear program, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and its “double standards” on human rights issues, the foreign ministry said in a Friday statement.

Mottaki said a change in policies and actions of the UK “is the sole way to patch up severely-damaged Tehran-Londan relations.”

“[Possessing a] nuclear fuel cycle is the inalienable right of NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) signatory states,” read the statement.

“Britain does not want to be presented as an enemy of Iran and is keen on improving relations with the Islamic republic,” the statement quoted Hague as saying.

United Kingdom’s support for US-engineered UN Security Council and unilateral sanctions against Iran over allegations that Tehran is following a military nuclear program has cast a cloud on the relations between the two countries.

Iran rejects the Western charges, arguing that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the NPT, it is entitled to use peaceful nuclear energy.