Iran proposes joint nuclear group with Persian Gulf states
Published: Sunday, November 30, 2008
13:08GMT—8:08AM/EST
NUCLEAR ENERGY – PERSIAN GULF – CONSORTIUM
Washington, 30 November (IranVNC)—Iran today proposed the establishment of a joint consortium with neighboring Arab states in the Persian Gulf for the development of light-water nuclear power plants, the official IRNA news agency reports.
“I suggest that countries in the region … put on their joint agenda the creation of a consortium to build and develop light-water nuclear plants,” said Reza Aghazadeh, the head of the Iran Atomic Energy Organization [IAEO].
Aghazadeh, who was speaking at an energy conference in Tehran, added: “The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready … to present a comprehensive proposal if the Persian Gulf countries agree to it in principal.”
Iran is currently locked in a longstanding dispute with the West over its controversial nuclear program, which Western powers suspect has a military aim. Tehran insists that its program is entirely peaceful and its legal right under the Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty [NPT].
A number of Iran’s neighbors have grown suspicious of Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, fearing that Shiite-majority Iran is seeking a greater regional standing. And many international leaders and analysts have warned of a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Iran’s nuclear program is not curtailed.
However, Aghazadeh said that the Islamic Republic was determined to press forward with its nuclear program.
“Iran is planning to continue its peaceful use of nuclear technology due to the considerable influence of nuclear sciences and technology on scientific, economic and social aspects of life,” the state-run Press TV news agency quoted Aghazadeh as saying.
Russia is building Iran’s first nuclear power plant in the southern port town of Bushehr. That plant is expected to go online by 2009.
Sources: IRNA, Press TV
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