Speaker: Iran Nixes Western Classification of Right to N. Energy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s parliament speaker said all signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) should have the right to enjoy peaceful nuclear technology, and added that Tehran regards as “unjust” the policy of western countries to deprive others of this right.
Speaking at Turkmenistan’s parliament on Friday, Ali Larijani said Iran rejects the “unjust” classification by the US and western countries which denies other countries the right to have peaceful nuclear technology.
“Iran is a member of the (International Atomic Energy) agency and has signed the NPT, which gives the signatories the right to have peaceful nuclear science, something western countries and the US do not want to recognize,” he told Turkmen lawmakers.
The West wants to classify countries into those who can and those who cannot have this right, but "we do not accept this unjust classification," the Iranian speaker said.
"We are ready to pay the price (of this stand), but we will never succumb to such as classification ... as we believe the nuclear energy and its applications, including electricity generation, should not be monopolized by certain countries.”
Heading a high-ranking delegation, Larijani is in Turkmen capital city of Ashgabat for an official three-day visit aimed at expanding bilateral ties between Iran and Turkmenistan.
The United States and the European Union have in recent years imposed illegal unilateral sanctions against Iran over the false claim that Iran's nuclear energy program might include a military component.
Iran, however, rejects the allegation, arguing that numerous inspections of its nuclear sites by the IAEA have invariably failed to find any diversion towards military purposes.
