KARACHI, Aug 31: Iranian Consul General in Karachi Syed Musa Hosseini on Thursday said that it was the Islamic revolution and the Islamic governance system in Iran, and not the nuclear programme, that was target of opposition from the US and its allies.

“Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, the US and its allies have continuously been hatching conspiracies against Iran. Immediately after the revolution, Iraq had attacked Iran with their backing and even after the war, they continued to destabilise Iran and its Islamic system of governance,” he told a seminar here on ‘Pakistan-Iran Relations: New Developments and Importance’. It was organised by the Pakistan Press Foundation (PPF) at its Vicky Zeitlin Media Library on Thursday.

A former Pakistani envoy, Najmus Saqib Khan, the Chairman of Pakistan Institute of International Affairs, Fatehyab Ali Khan, and an expert on international relations from Karachi University Dr Mutahir Shaikh also spoke at the seminar.

Musa Hosseini maintained that acquiring nuclear technology for peaceful purposes was basic right of Iran but the US and some western countries, through media campaign, were trying to make its peaceful nuclear programme controversial and mould the public opinion against Iran.

“We never wished to get technology for aggression and even International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) agrees to our explanation,” he said.

“The IAEA should provide us technical assistance so that we could acquire peaceful nuclear technology as we are fully cooperating with it.”

He recalled in Shah’s era, the US, Britain and other western states had been striving to take lead in providing nuclear technology and equipment, nuclear reactors and other such materials to Iran. But after the revolution, they imposed economic sanctions and banned technology transfers to Iran. This exposed their enmity vis-a-vis the Islamic system of governance in Iran.

“It is not an issue of Iran going nuclear as even CIA says that Iran cannot prepare nuclear weapons before 2015.” He said Iran never refused to end cooperation with the IAEA.

He said Pakistan and Iran had many agreements and pacts, some dating back to Shah’s era, but on economic and cultural fronts, there was comparatively less progress.

“In view of the excellent political ties, the graph of economic cooperation would have been much higher. Although economic relations are improving, we must accelerate the pace.”

He said both countries had set bilateral trade target at up to US$1 billion from the existing $389 million. It was achievable if both sides really worked hard in this direction, he remarked.

He called for enhancing cultural relations, as well as joint ventures in film production.

Najmus Saqib observed that Pakistan opposed any aggression against Iran or imposition of sanctions on it over its nuclear programme. Islamabad wanted the issue to be resolved through dialogue in a peaceful manner, he added.

He called for strengthening bilateral trade and economic ties as this was the key to enhancing cultural and political ties.

Fatehyab Ali Khan said that the two countries should be aware of the international conspiracies.—PPI