Tehran (ANTARA News/Xinhua-OANA) - Iran`s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said Sunday that the issue of the alleged studies mentioned in the latest report of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Yukiya Amano "lacks any real basis," the official IRNA news agency reported.

Under the term "alleged studies," which is supposedly based on a set of purloined top-secret Iranian military documents, the United States claimed that Iran is covertly pursuing a nuclear- weapons program.

In a report issued on Friday by Amano, it said that new information received by IAEA adds to further concerns that Iran has possibly worked on nuclear weapons.

Salehi expressed hope that the issue of the alleged studies would be removed from the next reports of the UN nuclear watchdog about Iran`s "peaceful nuclear activities."

He told the official IRNA news agency that the alleged studies is an "unfounded matter" originally brought to the IAEA`s report by former chief of the IAEA Mohamed ElBaradei under the pressures of the western states.

The IAEA should "act independently and prevent taking side by the western states," he was quoted as saying.

According to the Sunday report of the English language satellite Press TV, Salehi also criticized Western countries for their "negative approach" towards Iran`s nuclear program.

Despite Iran`s constructive cooperation with the IAEA, Western governments are pursuing double-standard policies towards Iran`s nuclear energy program, Salehi said.

Salehi also censured the West for adopting a different approach in regard to Israel, which refuses to sign the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Iran is ready to hold more talks with the G5+1, namely Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany, Salehi was quoted as saying by Press TV.

The nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers in Istanbul wrapped up without any progress on Jan. 22.

On Saturday, Iranian ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the agency has confirmed again there was no diversion to military purposes in Iranian nuclear program, according to the local ISNA news agency.

"The International Atomic Energy Agency has again confirmed for the 26th time that there is no diversion to military purposes in Iran`s nuclear work," Soltanieh was quoted as saying.

"The agency`s supervision on Iran`s nuclear activities including uranium enrichment is evident in the whole report," he told ISNA.

He undermined the impact of the UN and Western sanction resolutions on Iran over its nuclear program.

"We, relying on legal documents, have proved that the resolutions have no credit and we believe that the resolutions do not have the capability to be implemented," he was quoted as saying.

The West has long been accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons under civilian disguise, which has been denied by Tehran. (*)

Editor: Kunto Wibisono
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