Medvedev urges transparency in Iran nuclear work

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has said that transparency can resolve the Iranian nuclear standoff with the West.

“I think the way out of this situation is responsible behavior by Iran itself,” AFP quoted the Russian president as saying in an interview with the French magazine Paris-Match on Thursday.

“We believe that Iran’s nuclear programs should conform to the demands of international organizations like the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Organization], and also that work in this area should be transparent for oversight,” Medvedev went on to say.

“So far, unfortunately, there are many problems here,” he further explained.

The US and its Western allies have accused Iran of seeking to build an atomic bomb. Tehran, however, says its nuclear program is peaceful in nature.

Russia has repeatedly declared that it does not support sanctions against Iran, saying Moscow favors a diplomatic solution to the issue.

The Islamic Republic says it is a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and, unlike Israel, neither believes in atomic weapons nor, as a matter of religious principle, intends to access such weapons.

Moreover, the Iranian government has repeatedly called for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction throughout the globe.

Iran’s nuclear facilities and enriched uranium remain under the supervision of IAEA inspectors, as outlined in the NPT Safeguards Agreement.

The UN nuclear watchdog has carried out the highest number of inspections in Iran, compared to any other country throughout its history and has found nothing to indicate any diversion toward weaponization.