“We do not have anything to hide," Kharazi

ROME, February 13 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Dismissing Washington’s accusations of ‘continuing to pursue nuclear weapons’, the Iranian Government has denied having plans for the development of nuclear weapons, saying it is willing to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog.

The denial came a few hours after U.S. officials claimed Thursday, February 12 that there's “no doubt in our mind that Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapons program”.

But British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged to reserve judgment on whether Iran has a nuclear weapons program until the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) issues a report in March.

Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said late Thursday in Rome that his country had any nuclear weapons ambitions.

“We do not have anything to hide and we are ready to be inspected more (seriously) by IAEA inspectors,” Kharrazi told reporters in Rome.

“There may be questions by IAEA inspectors but we are ready to verify those, and what has been achieved altogether up until now is out of our cooperation with IAEA,” Kharrazi said when asked about the discovery of the drawings by the U.N. inspectors sifting through Iran’s nuclear files.

“As long as we are ready to continue our cooperation, all outstanding questions will be verified,” Kharazi was quoted by Agence France-Presse (AFP).

‘Gain Compliance’

The statements came after U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said that Iran is still seeking to acquire nuclear weapons, despite commitments to the contrary made to the international community. 

“We have been following the question of Iran pretty closely and there's no doubt in our mind that Iran continues to pursue a nuclear weapons program,” Armitage said in a press interview in Washington.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Disarmament John Bolton made a similar remark in Berlin.

“We're not convinced Iran has come completely clean,” said Bolton.

The IAEA reportedly said in Vienna Thursday it had found undeclared plans in Iran for a sophisticated model of a gas centrifuge, that can be used to make weapons-grade uranium, after Teheran had promised to open all of its nuclear programs for IAEA inspection.

While highly enriched uranium is a key component of some nuclear warheads, less enriched uranium can be used to generate power, which is what Iran insists it was interested in.

Kharazi insisted that Tehran had a “legitimate right” to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes but denied it had any intention to develop nuclear weapons.

Reserve Judgment

In the meantime, Blair said the international community should reserve judgment on whether Iran has a nuclear weapons program until the U.N. atomic energy watchdog issues a report in March.

Asked if he was concerned about accusations that Iran may have gone back on a commitment made to foreign ministers from Britain, France and Germany in October to come clean on its nuclear program and suspend the enrichment of uranium, Blair said he would wait to judge.

“The good thing about the situation we helped to bring about is that the International Atomic Energy Agency are now committed in Iran and they'll produce a report I think in March and that is a report that can go through all these issues,” he told a news conference after talks with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder in Berlin.

Nine months into the end of the U.S.-British invasion of neighboring Iraq, none of alleged weapons of mass destruction have been found, raising fears that the offensive was launched on false pretexts against the oil-rich country.

The IAEA's board of governors is to meet March 8 to review the situation in Iran, following an ultimatum that expired last October 31 for the Islamic republic to reveal all details of its nuclear program.

Russian Defiance

Moving To Russia, Moscow defied U.S. pressure to sever nuclear ties with Iran as Russian Atomic Energy Minister Alexander Rumyantsev said his country would sign a deal with Iran next month to ship nuclear fuel for Iran's Bushehr power plant.

Tehran and Moscow have been locked in months of tough talks over nuclear shipments for the $800 million Bushehr plant Russia has helped to build despite repeated U.S. accusations that Iran is secretly trying to acquire nuclear arms, said Reuters.

Rumyantsev said he hoped Russia and Iran would ink their deal, which also requires Iran to return spent nuclear fuel to Russia, during a visit to Tehran in late March.

“The United States has criticized us and will continue to criticize us,” Rumyantsev said.

“They say Iran seeks nuclear weapons under the cover of our peaceful technology transfer, but we keep telling them they've got that wrong”.