India asks Iran to fully cooperate with IAEA

 India has asked Iran to fully cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to restore confidence of the international community that its nuclear programme is peaceful in nature.

India's acting Permanent Representative to the United Nations Manjeev Singh Puri yesterday said New Delhi has consistently supported the right of all nations to peaceful uses of nuclear energy in accordance with relevant international treaties to which they are a party.

"Iran should fully cooperate with the IAEA to restore the confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of its nuclear programme," Puri said at a Security Council briefing here on UN Resolution 1737, which had imposed sanctions against Tehran for failing to stop its uranium enrichment programme.

The Western nations suspect Iran, despite its repeated denials, of wanting to build a nuclear bomb under cover of its civilian atomic programme.

Puri expressed hope that the outstanding technical issues concerning the Iranian nuclear programme would be resolved peacefully through Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA.

He said India welcomes the recent exchanges between Iran and the IAEA, including the visit of the Director General of the agency to Tehran as well as the talks between the P5+1 and Iran held in Istanbul and Baghdad during the last two months.
"We think that these talks should continue and hope that the parties will be able to make progress in the next round scheduled for next week in Moscow," Puri added.
He said India supports the full implementation of relevant resolutions of the Security Council concerning the Iranian nuclear issue.

However, while implementing these resolutions, it is necessary that all efforts should be made so that legitimate trade and economic activities do not suffer, he added.