"The Americans level a charge and make conclusions based on the same groundless charge," state news agency IRNA quoted Kharazi Friday as saying in an exclusive interview with him in London the previous day.

"Iran definitely has no plan for producing nuclear weapons and any such plan is not a part of our security strategies," Kharazi said, reiterating a long-standing response to charges from the United States and others.

On Wednesday, Bush said any development of an atomic weapon by Tehran would be "intolerable."

"The development of a nuclear weapon in Iran is intolerable, and a program is intolerable, otherwise they will be dealt with, starting through the United Nations," Bush said in remarks to newspaper editors and publishers.

The United States has been skeptical of Tehran's pledges to improve its cooperation and transparency with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), saying Iran had previously reneged on similar vows.

"The foreign ministers of Great Britain, France and Germany have interceded on behalf of the civilized world to talk plainly to the Iranians," the president said.

"My job is to make sure that they speak as plainly as possible to the Iranians," he said.

Iran was severely reprimanded by the IAEA last year for failing to make a full accounting of its nuclear activities.

But in December, it bowed to international pressure by signing up to an additional protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), allowing tougher IAEA probes.

Kharazi renewed previous pledges that Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful and stressed that the country has a legitimate right to promote peaceful nuclear activities under IAEA commitments.

Meanwhile, denying what he claimed were reports to the contrary in an unnamed US newspaper, he insisted that his talks in Paris Wednesday with French President Jacques Chirac were "very warm and good".

"Mr. Chirac described Iran as the regional partner of France. Besides, Tehran-Paris relations are currently very amicable and friendly," he said.

"It is natural that the Americans are not happy with the expansion of Iran's relations with European countries, particularly France. This is the reason why they make such baseless comments."

Chirac urged Iran to cooperate "in a constructive way" with Europe and the IAEA during his talks with Kharazi, Chirac spokeswoman Catherine Colonna said.

He "expressed France's wish that the dialogue begun between the three European countries (Germany, France and Britain) and Iran continues in a constructive way," Colonna said.

Chirac also stressed the importance "of continuing the implementation of commitments taken at the IAEA."

Britain, France and Germany last year convinced Iran to make a series of commitments on the civil character of its nuclear program, and Tehran said they in turn promised to aid the country in developing that program.

"We expect from the European countries that they keep to their commitments so that this mutual confidence can be a bilateral affair," Kharazi said.

He insisted that concrete measures needed to be put in place for the Europeans to meet those commitments.

On Thursday, Kharazi met with his British counterpart, Jack Straw, and with Prime Minister Tony Blair in London to discuss international concerns about the country's nuclear programmes.

Kharazi characterized his talks in Paris and London as "useful."

"The European countries must understand clearly that the only route possible is that of promoting cooperation and mutual respect, which includes respect for Iranian positions," he said.

Turning to the question of the situation in the Middle East, Kharazi said his European hosts were beginning to understand the "important and constructive role" Iran was playing, particularly with regard to Iran and to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

Quick Links
SpaceWar
Search SpaceWar
Subscribe To SpaceWar Express

SpaceWar Search Engine

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SPACEWAR NEWSLETTER SubscribeUnsubscribe