Iran's nuclear program peaceful?

Iran as a sovereign participant state of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is entitled to cooperate with other states in peaceful uses of nuclear energy, official spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Alexander Yakovenko said.

According to him, permanent motoring activities of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Iran "have not revealed whatever violations by Teheran of its nuclear non-proliferation obligations".

"As is known, Russia is giving assistance to Iran in the building of the Bushehr nuclear power station on the basis of Iran's abidance by its obligations under the non-proliferation treaty and the agreement on the application of the IAEA guarantees", said the Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Nevertheless, he spoke of recent "unofficial information on the military bias in the Iranian nuclear program." It is Russia's position that only the IAEA as a specially empowered international agency can say whether or not Iran is observing its obligations under the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, said Yakovenko.

A session of the IAEA Board of Governors will be held in Vienna in the middle of June and hear the report of its director general on the agency's guarantee work in Iran.

Alexander Yakovenko hopes that the report will "answer questions of the parties involved".