BRUSSELS, July 21: EU foreign ministers expressed “increasing concern” on Monday over Iran’s nuclear programme and warned that the EU would review relations with Tehran unless it cooperated with the UN nuclear watchdog.

In a joint declaration, the foreign ministers demanded Iran’s “urgent and unconditional acceptance” of an additional protocol under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to provide for surprise inspections of its nuclear sites.

The ministers “decided to review future steps of the cooperation between the EU and Iran in September,” the statement said, adding that their next moves would hinge on a report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom had warned the ministers that “Iran is threatening the stability not only of the region but of the entire world” with its nuclear programme and the development of a new ballistic missile.

Mr Shalom told reporters after meeting his European Union counterparts that Tehran had refused to accept tougher nuclear inspections and was continuing to enrich uranium.

“Iran now is trying to do everything to have a nuclear weapon and that is threatening not only the Middle East, it is threatening Europe, the southern part of Russia,” he said.

“And I think the EU should take a key role in the last efforts to prevent them from having this ability.”

But Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said in South Africa that the country’s nuclear programme was open to scrutiny by the UN nuclear watchdog agency and was considering signing a new protocol on weapons inspections with the body.

“It is clear for us that we do not have any programme for nuclear weapons production,” Mr Kharrazi told a news conference in South Africa, where he is holding diplomatic meetings.

“Israel wants to justify its nuclear arsenal. They want to justify that they are under threat when the source of the threat is Israeli capabilities,” Mr Kharrazi said.

“We don’t find the development of nuclear weapons increases security. Contrary to that, we find it to be a threat to national security,” he added.—AFP