A top Iranian nuclear official says a U.N. report has "vindicated" his country's nuclear program as a peaceful one.
The semi-official Iranian news agency Fars quotes Ali Asghar Soltanieh
Saturday as saying Iran will resist political pressure to give up its
nuclear goals.
The International Atomic Energy Agency released a report Friday saying
Iran has allowed its inspectors greater access to its main nuclear
complex in the city of Natanz. But the report said Iran failed to
reveal if its nuclear program includes a military component.
Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the U.N. nuclear agency, said Iran will
cooperate with inspections but not beyond its legal obligation.
The U.S. State Department on Friday accused Iran of failing to meet its
obligation by not proving that its nuclear program is being developed
solely for peaceful purposes.
Western nations accuse Iran of trying to enrich uranium to build a nuclear bomb, but Tehran says it is pursuing nuclear energy.
Next Wednesday, representatives from the five permanent members of the
U.N. security council, as well as Germany, will meet in Frankfurt to
discuss whether to impose harsher U.N. sanctions on the Islamic
republic.