West fails to spread Iranophobia

Iran’s vice-president says Western powers have failed to demonize Tehran in the region, praising Turkey’s role in the Tehran nuclear declaration.

In an interview with Turkish Sabah daily on Saturday, Mohammad Reza Rahimi pointed to long-running plans to spread ‘Iranophobia’ among Tehran’s neighbors.

“Since the Islamic Revolution, the West has been seeking to spread Iranophobia among neighboring and regional countries but after three decades everyone knows that there is no such a threat,” the presidential website quoted Rahimi as saying.

He went on stress the non-diversion of Iran’s nuclear program, “which is completely monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency.”

“We believe that our resistance to monopolizing and bullying countries will benefit all developing counties,” Rahimi added.

Noting Turkey’s pro-diplomacy efforts, the top Iranian official expressed hope that Ankara’s referendum victory would speed up progress and development in Iran’s northwestern neighbor.

Iranian officials reject US-led accusations that Tehran is following a military nuclear program, arguing that as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty the country has the right to peaceful nuclear energy.

On Friday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the latest International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Iran, saying the agency was under Western pressure.

In the report, Director General Yukiya Amano concluded that the IAEA verifies the non-diversion of “declared” nuclear material in Iran.

“We say we have shown you everything that we have…and when we ask them to show proof of the existence of this undeclared material, they ask us in turn to offer evidence that they are non-existent,” the president said in a interview with IRIB reporters.