West Must Apologize For False Accusations Against Iran: FM

TEHRAN – Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki has advised U.S. officials to give up playing politics on Iran’s nuclear drive and admit that they made wrong assessments about Iran’s activities. International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei presented a report on Iran’s nuclear program to the IAEA Board of Governors on Friday which vindicated the country by reaffirming its nuclear transparency.

“The agency has been able to continue to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material in Iran,” ElBaradei said in the report.

In a meeting with a group of foreign ambassadors and representatives in Iran on Tuesday, Mottaki said, “Instead of trying to politicize the program and raise minor and unrelated issues, the U.S. government should adopt a realistic approach and should honestly tell its people that its assessment of Iran’s nuclear industry has been incorrect.”

Now it is time for the West to apologize for wrongly accusing Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, Mottaki stated.

The foreign minister said Iran is seeking to utilize nuclear fuel as an alternative to the exhausting fossil fuel in order to meet the demands of a growing population. The Islamic Republic plans to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity through nuclear energy, he explained.

Mottaki criticized the United States for inventing pretexts to impede Iran’s “scientific and technical” progress.

Over the past eight months Iran has developed full cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency to address questions about plutonium, P-1 and P-2 centrifuge machines, the source of uranium contamination found at Tehran University, metal uranium, and the Gachin mine in line with a modality plan agreed by the two sides in August 2007, Mottaki noted.

“The Islamic Republic responded to the questions earlier than the specified timeframe and the answers were confirmed by the IAEA officials; thus all ambiguities surrounding Iran’s nuclear issue have been cleared up.”

The foreign minister said Iran is prepared to resume normal cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog.

“Although the modality plan has been successfully concluded, Iran is ready to continue cooperation with the IAEA according to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and the IAEA statute.