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Iran offers to help GCC on nuclear energy

Iran can help its Gulf neighbours develop peaceful nuclear energy, the country's foreign minister said on Monday, in comments which might irritate major powersfearing Tehran's own atomic work is aimed at building bombs.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 14:56 June 22, 2007
  • Gulf News

  • Mottaki said Iran backed talks between GCC head Abdul-Rahman Al Attiya and the IAEA's Mohamed El Baradei.
  • Image Credit: AP

Tehran: Iran can help its Gulf neighbours develop peaceful nuclear energy, the country's foreign minister said on Monday, in comments which might irritate major powers fearing Tehran's own atomic work is aimed at building bombs.

Manouchehr Mottaki, whose country has rejected Western demands to halt sensitive nuclear activities, was speaking a week after Gulf Arab states meeting in Riyadh began working on a feasibility study for a civilian nuclear programme.

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries share Western suspicions that Iran's nuclear energy plans may lead to it acquiring atomic weapons, a charge Tehran denies.

Their programme has raised concerns in the West about a regional arms race with Iran, which faces a possible third round of UN sanctions for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.

"Iran, under the supervision of the IAEA (the International Atomic Energy Agency), can cooperate with the Gulf countries in offering technology and is serious about it," Mottaki told a conference on the Gulf in Tehran, the ISNA news agency said.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a major energy producing group that includes Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, agreed with the IAEA in February to cooperate in early preparations for atomic energy.

Mottaki said Iran backed talks between GCC head Abdul-Rahman Al Attiya and the IAEA's Mohamed El Baradei.

While not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Israel is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons and is seen as more of a threat than Iran by most Arabs.

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