Iran says ready for nuclear surveillance
Web posted at: 9/7/2004 1:54:33
Source ::: AFP
TEHRAN: The spokesman for Iran's reformist cabinet said yesterday the Islamic republic was willing to show greater transparency over its nuclear programme in order to ease suspicions of bomb-making.
"We are ready to accept all kinds of surveillance to remove the fears of the international community," said Abodollah Ramazanzadeh, asserting Iran's commitment to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its additional protocol.
Iran is a signatory to the NPT and in December 2003 signed the additional protocol, which allows tougher inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Iranian parliament, now controlled by conservatives, has yet to ratify that protocol.
Ramazanzadeh also reiterated Iran's refusal to abandon its work on the nuclear fuel cycle, which although permitted under the NPT is feared as providing Iran with a nuclear weapons option later on.
"We have accepted to voluntarily suspend uranium enrichment, but it is illogical to ask us to renounce enrichment," he said at his weekly press conference.