TOKYO, February 28 (RIA Novosti) - Iran's foreign minister has again stated that the country is only seeking nuclear power for peaceful purposes and vowed to continue research into the atom despite the international community's objections.
Speaking to members of an Iranian-Japanese association in Tokyo, where he is briefing the authorities on a Russian proposal to establish a uranium enrichment joint venture, Manouchehr Mottaki drew a comparison between the oil-rich Islamic Republic and Japan, which makes extensive use of nuclear power.
"Like Japan, we want to conduct nuclear research for peaceful purposes rather than to build nuclear weapons," he said.
On Monday, Mottaki met with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso, who urged Iran to accept the Russian proposal to set up a joint venture on its territory to enrich uranium for Iranian power plants and thereby allay international concerns that Iran might eventually produce bomb-grade fuel. Aso said that Japan did not want to see Iran in isolation.
A source in the Russian group of negotiators also said Monday that an Iranian delegation would arrive in Moscow Tuesday to resume talks on the joint venture.
Ali Hosseini-Tash, the deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, is expected to lead the delegation, the source said, adding that the new round of talks would begin Wednesday, March 1.
Sergei Kiriyenko, the head of the Russian Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, and Iranian Vice President Gholamreza Agazadeh, reached a preliminary agreement on the establishment of the joint venture during February 26 talks in Iran.
Aso said before Mottaki's visit that he would try to scale down Tehran's nuclear ambitions and deter sanctions against Iran, whose "nuclear file" could be referred to the UN Security Council, which has the authority to impose economic sanctions and other punitive measures if Iran is found to be in breach of its international commitments.
Speaking in parliament Monday, Aso said Iran's continued defiance of the International Atomic Energy Agency's decisions was eroding the international community's confidence.
In Japan, however, Mottaki reiterated Tehran's position that it would continue nuclear research and efforts to advance its nuclear power sector and repeated that the Islamic Republic had the right to use peaceful atomic energy and would not tolerate "nuclear apartheid."
The Iranian minister is also expected to meet with Prime Minister Junichiro Kodzumi Tuesday in a bid to step up friendly relations between Japan and Iran.
