"Iran's objectives are very clear and peaceful," Assefi said

TEHRAN, December 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Tehran flatly denied Friday, December 13, U.S. reports that it has a nuclear weapons program, reaffirming its right to use nuclear technology for civil and "peaceful" means. 

"Iran's objectives are very clear and peaceful," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Assefi said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Iran considers "it is its right to use [nuclear technology] for peaceful means," AFP quoted the Iranian spokesman as saying.

Iran's nuclear activity "conforms with international conventions in place, as has been confirmed many times by the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] observers," he added.

Assefi's statement came as a reaction to reports from unnamed U.S. officials on the CNN International Thursday, December 12, claiming that Iran is secretly building two nuclear facilities which could be allegedly used to build nuclear weapons.

The report claimed that the two named sites, near the towns of Nantanz and Arak, were allegedly identified through satellite images taken in September by the private company, DigitalGlobe, said CNN, which aired the images.

When asked by CNN about the two suspect sites, Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Javad Zarif said the Iranian program was strictly for civil use.

"I can categorically tell you that Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program. Any facility we have ... if it is dealing with nuclear technology, it is within the purview of our peaceful nuclear program," he said.

And government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told the Iranian news agency IRNA, "We have no nuclear activity or studies outside the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency."

The Islamic Republic has repeatedly announced that its nuclear activities are for civilian purposes and opened the facilities to regular supervision of the IAEA which has confirmed their peaceful intentions.

Washington has already been claiming that Iran may use its under-construction plant in southern Bushehr, built with Russian assistance, for developing nuclear arms. 

Both Iran and Russia have rejected these allegations. Moscow announced in August that it intended to build the second plant in Bushehr. 

Iran, for its part, has also reiterated its bid to complete the plant, "given the 'enormous sum' which the country has already spent on its construction."

"We don't pay attention to threats and are determined to finish the works on the Bushehr station," Assefi said in August, according to IRNA.

U.S. officials told CNN they believed the sites to be refineries for enriched uranium, which could be weapons grade.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has yet to visit either site.

Experts at the Institute for Science and International Security, a Washington-based research center on the proliferation of nuclear weapons, have already started to criticize Iran.

"Iran looks like it's building very large nuclear facilities that could be part of an effort to make the material you need to make nuclear weapons," claimed David Albright, a nuclear expert and president of the institute.

Until now the only known Iranian nuclear facility was in Bouchehr, expected to become operational in June 2004.

According to Iranian television, the Iranian authorities are conducting a feasibility study on the construction of a second 1,000-megawatt power station.

The U.S. has constantly accused Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons research. U.S. President George W. Bush has ranked Iran along with Iraq and North Korea as the "axis of evil".