‘Iran will not abandon nuclear rights’

Iran says it will not compromise on its “inalienable right” to peaceful nuclear technology, reiterating Tehran’s adamancy to international commitments.

“Iran will not back off on its inalienable nuclear rights and will not neglect its international commitments,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said during a joint press conference with his Austrian counterpart Michael Spindelegger on Tuesday .

Salehi highlighted Iran’s efforts to alleviate the West’s alleged concerns over US-led allegations that the Islamic Republic might have military objectives in its nuclear program.

“Iran’s nuclear case has reached a stage that has made everyone tired,” the Iranian minister said.

“The Islamic Republic has time and again announced formally that it remains adamant to its commitments under NPT (Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty) and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) statute, and that it insists on its own rights as much,” he added.

Salehi, who earlier met with IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano in Vienna, called for an acceleration of the process the agency and Tehran have started and urged the establishment of a new mechanism within their agreed framework to resolve the West’s standoff with Iran over its nuclear program.

The Austrian foreign minister, for his part, said the six-nation group (variously known as the 5+1 and 3+3 group) has voiced its readiness to hold negotiations with Iran.

Spindelegger expressed regret that no progress has been made in talks between Iran and the P5+1 (Russia, China, France, Britain and the United States plus Germany) over the past year, adding, as also announced by EU foreign policy chief Catharine Ashton, that the group is ready to resume talks with Tehran.

In response to a question on Western silence towards Zionist Israel’s 200 nuclear warheads while adopting a strong stance against nuclear activities of Iran, a signatory to the NPT, he highlighted the significance of establishing a Middle East region free of nuclear weapons.

Iran insists that as a member of the IAEA and a signatory to NPT, it has a right to use the peaceful applications of nuclear energy for electricity generation and medical research.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence indicating that Iran’s civilian nuclear program has been diverted towards military purposes.