Tehran Calls on Paris to Avoid Illogical Stance on Iran's N. Issue

Speaking on Sunday, Mehman-Parast said that the nature of Iran's nuclear activities is "transparent and peaceful" and Iran's close cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is itself indicative of this transparency.

Mehman-Parast dismissed the recent statements of the French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Iran's peaceful nuclear energy activities as "baseless".

"It is better that the French government instead of adopting irrational behavior and uttering illogical statements to adopt a proper approach in compliance with realities."

His remarks came after the two French ministers tried to portray Iran's peaceful nuclear energy program as a military program.

Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Tehran stresses that the country has always pursued a civilian path to provide power to the growing number of Iranian population, whose fossil fuel would eventually run dry.

Despite the rules enshrined in the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) entitling every member state, including Iran, to the right of uranium enrichment, Tehran is now under four rounds of UN Security Council sanctions for turning down West's calls to give up its right of uranium enrichment.

Tehran has dismissed West's demands as politically tainted and illogical, stressing that sanctions and pressures merely consolidate Iranians' national resolve to continue the path.

Tehran has repeatedly said that it considers its nuclear case closed as it has come clean of IAEA's questions and suspicions about its past nuclear activities.
mehr/281