PESHAWAR, Oct 25: An Iranian diplomat on Tuesday reaffirmed Iran’s right to pursue its nuclear programme for peaceful purposes and denied that Pakistan had helped his country in any way to achieve nuclear technology.

“The statement made by our spiritual leader Ali Khomeini is a gospel word for us. He has said that Iran will not make nuclear weapons and the world should believe us,” Iran’s Consul-General in Peshawar Mohammad Hassan Imani told a press conference at his residence here.

Mr Imani, in his maiden interaction with local media, mainly focused on Iran’s nuclear policy and Pakistan’s earthquake, besides what his country has done to help Islamabad in relief activities.

He said that the United States and Israel had been colluding from day one to derail the Islamic revolution in Iran and using different pretexts to achieve the objective.

He said that Iran, despite being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, had not received any help from any country in procuring nuclear technology for peaceful means.

“Therefore, we had to look elsewhere to get what was our due right,” he said.

He credited Iranian scientists for achieving the goal without depending on any other country and said that the Iranian nation was determined to stand on its own feet and defend its rights.

“Our nuclear programme is indigenous and no country can claim that it has transferred the technology to us,” Mr Imani said.

He defended Iran’s decision to keep its nuclear programme under wraps for 18 years and said that it was necessary to maintain secrecy and thwart any attempt by foreign powers to sabotage its efforts.

The Iranian diplomat accused the United States and other nuclear powers of trying to create a nuclear apartheid to monopolise the technology.

“We have said that we don’t need nuclear weapons. Our available resources are enough to deter any aggression,” he said.

Answering a question, he said that Pakistani scientist Dr Qadir Khan had no connection with the Iranian nuclear programme.

Asked whether Iran could be Washington’s next target, Mr Imani said that the United States had been bogged down in Iraq and it could not even think of initiating another major war in the region.

Besides, he said, an attack on Iran would push the oil price to $150 a barrel, which no country in the world could afford. Such an attack, he said, would also cause turmoil in Iran’s neighbouring countries.

“There is a big difference between Iran and Iraq,” he said and elaborated that while Iraqis wanted to overthrow Saddam, the Iranians were behind their leadership.

QUAKE ASSISTANCE: The diplomat said that Iran had donated 10 planeloads of relief goods, including tents and blankets, besides sending medical teams to provide medical care to the wounded people.