LAHORE, Feb 9: Iranian Consul General Saeid Kharazi says his country is determined to complete its peaceful nuclear programme despite hurdles.

At a press conference on the 29th anniversary of Islamic Revolution here on Saturday, he said Iran’s struggle for peaceful nuclear technology was being associated with international commitments and legal restraints merely because it wanted to produce 20,000MW electricity for its commercial and industrial needs.

He said Iran believed in peaceful use of nuclear energy because arms could not resolve the economic problems.

He said though Russia had dispatched a few consignments of heavy water for the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr as per commitment yet for acquiring the rest of capacity for producing the required electricity it was essential to build more power plants so that the fuel needs could be met from the local resources, especially from Iran’s nuclear plant at Nathans where Uranium was being enriched.

He said Iran was interested in promoting cooperation with Pakistan in all the areas because it gave priority to its relations with it.

The most sincere feelings of the people of Iran towards Pakistanis could be seen through mega projects like the extension of gas pipeline and export of electricity to Pakistan.

He said all the provinces of Pakistan were equally important but Punjab had a lot of potential which could not be utilised in the best possible manner during the recent years. Mutual cooperation between Iran and Pakistan required to be augmented for utilising the potential.