BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

07/09/2006

Tehran says Iran, Belarus in agreement on nuclear issue

MINSK. Sept 7 (Interfax) - The Iranian foreign minister insisted on Thursday that Western states "have no right" to demand that Iran scrap its nuclear program, because "all states have a right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy", adding that Iran and Belarus had identical positions on this and many other international issues.

"Nuclear powers that have used nuclear weapons against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki have no right to demand that other states be prohibited from possessing nuclear technology," Manouchehr Mottaki said in Minsk.

"The language of threats does not affect us. America's demand that, while some possess nuclear weapons, others should not even have the right to peaceful nuclear technology is illegal," he said.

Source:

http://www.interfax.ru/e/B/0/28.html?id_issue=11584959