PUTRAJAYA, Oct 17: Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami said on Friday his country would not build a nuclear weapon and would continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as a crucial deadline approaches.
“The issue of making a nuclear bomb is excluded,” he told a press conference on the sidelines of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference here.
He said the IAEA demands were unfair but “we are continuing our cooperation with the IAEA”.
“We have no major problem in principle but we insist on our right since we have no intention to build nuclear weapons. Because of our religious principles, our ideological principles and our dedication to dialogue among civilizations, we are totally against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.”
“We never said we would not sign the protocol and cooperate with IAEA.”
Mr Khatami said because his country had existing stocks of uranium, it had a legitimate right to continue enriching it for peaceful purposes.
The agency has given Iran until Oct 31 to answer questions on its nuclear programme, amid fears it is trying to develop nuclear weapons.
The IAEA head, Mohamed ElBaradei, who paid a flying visit to Iran on Thursday to press for quick answers over its nuclear programme, said he received assurances of Iran’s “readiness” to open up its suspect facilities.
AL QAEDA: Mr Khatami denied that his country was harbouring Al Qaeda fugitives following a report this week that Osama bin Laden’s son was helping to run the terror network from within the Islamic republic.
“They (Al Qaeda) have always been against Iran. They are hostile towards Iran and we are also against them. We are not going to provide safe haven for them in our country,” the Iranian president said.
The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that Saad, the eldest son of Osama bin Laden, had risen to the top ranks of Al Qaeda and is helping run the terror network from inside Iran.
Mr Khatami admitted that controlling Iran’s 1,900 kilometre border with Pakistan and Afghanistan was difficult and it was possible for extremists, as well as organized crime and drug traffickers, to slip through.—AFP
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