Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Tuesday said Iran was prepared to offer "necessary" guarantees on its nuclear programme if the issue is withdrawn from the UN Security Council.
Mottaki said in a speech to the international Conference on Disarmament here that Iran was prepared to make efforts to build confidence if the Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany returned the issue to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Let me seize this opportunity, and in order to show our readiness to resolve the issue, underline that if the five plus one countries refer back Iran's nuclear issues from the Security Council to the IAEA, my country will be prepared to offer necessary guarantees in order to create confidence regarding non-diversion of its nuclear programme," he said.
He did not specify what guarantees Iran was prepared to give. An Iranian government spokesman reiterated earlier Tuesday that Iran had no intention of suspending uranium enrichment, the key demand of the Security Council over its atomic programme.
During Mottaki's speech, the two US delegates left the room when he referred to Israel's possession of nuclear weapons and called on the international community to take "practical measures" to deal with the "threat".
His reference to "the Zionist regime's... uniquely grave threat to regional and international peace and security," echoed comments made by Iran at the IAEA last week.
Mottaki suggested the diplomatic pressure would make little difference. "An issue such as Iran's nuclear issue cannot be solved through pressure or the Security Council resolutions," he said. Mottaki reiterated that Iran had rights as well as obligations like any signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) and had the right to pursue the development of nuclear energy.
The Iranian envoy accused the United States of being "in clear contravention with the provisions of the NPT" with its deployment and development of nuclear weapons. Established nuclear states were guilty of "insincerity in their declared policy" by maintaining nuclear arsenals, he added. The NPT, created in 1970 and signed by 187 states, is the main international agreement preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and technology.
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