By IANS,
Tehran : Iran and New Zealand, in collaboration with other countries, can jointly launch an anti-nuclear weapon movement, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said, official IRNA news agency reported Thursday.
Mottaki made the remark Wednesday during a meeting with visiting New Zealand Deputy Foreign Minister Peter Hamilton.
Mottaki told Hamilton that Iran believes in dialogue in resolving disputes and has always remained “sensitive to aggression, injustice and unilateralism”.
Iran’s relations with the US and the West have been strained over its nuclear programme that the West, and the US particularly, suspect to be a cover for a nuclear weapons programme.
Iran has turned down Western demand for stopping its uranium enrichment programme as a result of which the UN, persuaded by the US, has placed the country under three sets of mild sanctions.
Iran said its nuclear programme was civilian within the framework of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which wholly bans production of nukes, and the guidelines of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Tehran has presented its own programme for nuclear disarmament, seeking inspection by the UN nuclear watchdog of nuclear facilities of all countries and universal ratification of the NPT.
The New Zealand envoy said during his stay he held fruitful talks with Iranian officials on issues pertaining to culture and civilization.
New Zealand will continue cooperation with the Islamic country, he said.