‘No proof’ Iran seeks atom bomb: Russian Minister

BRUSSELS: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday there was no proof that Iran is trying to develop a nuclear weapon and urged the West to respect and reach out to the Islamic republic.

“There is no proof that Iran even has decided to make a bomb,” he told the Brussels Forum conference, alongside EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who on behalf of world powers has led talks to curb Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

Lavrov said the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was best placed to monitor Iran’s activities and establish whether it might try to covertly develop a weapon under the guise of a civilian programme.

Lavrov said that “as long as the IAEA works in Iran,” real concerns it may develop a bomb could be allayed.

Uranium enrichment, a process that the IAEA monitors, is used to make fuel for a nuclear reactor, but at highly refined levels it can serve to produce the core of an atomic weapon.

“To change it to the weapon grade uranium, you need to do manipulations which would be immediately known by cameras,” Lavrov said.

Sunday, AFP