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Tehran says comparing Iran's nuclear program with others irrational

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-07-01 16:48

TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said on Tuesday that Iran's nuclear activities are incomparable because of its peaceful nature.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini arrives to attend an official meeting with Iranian chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and India's national security adviser M. K. Narayanan in Tehran July 1, 2008. [Agencies]

"Any comparison between the nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran and other countries is irrational and politically-motivated," the official IRNA news agency quoted Hosseini as saying.

The foreign ministry spokesman defended the peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program, saying that "it is under the constant surveillance of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)."

"Iran's nuclear activities have been carried out in full accordance with the NPT (the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ) regulations. No diversion to non-peaceful aims have been mentioned in any of the reports issued by the International Atomic Energy Agency," he added.

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) destroyed a 30-meter-tall cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear complex on Friday afternoon, as a sign of its commitment to halting its nuclear activities.

Some US media have used DPRK's decision to destroy the cooling tower to make an comparison between the nuclear programs of Tehran and Pyongyang.

The United States and its Western allies fear that Tehran is trying to build nuclear weapons. Iran insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.