- TEHRAN (Reuters) - Former
Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said on Friday by signing up
to U.N. snap nuclear checks of its nuclear facilities, Iran showed its
atomic ambitions were entirely peaceful.
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- "They (the U.S.) wanted to accuse Iran of having
nuclear weapons, but this has foiled their plots," the influential
ex-president told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran, broadcast live
on state radio.
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- The United States has said Iran's nuclear program is
a smokescreen for a building atomic weapons.
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- Rafsanjani said Iran, which has always said its nuclear
scientists are working on ways to meet booming electricity demand, now
expected technical assistance with its atomic program.
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- On Thursday, Iran signed an agreement at the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna allowing the U.N. nuclear
watchdog to conduct snap inspections across its territory.
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- The signature to the Additional Protocol to the 1968
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) comes nearly 18 months after an
exiled Iranian opposition group sparked an international crisis by saying
Tehran was hiding several large nuclear facilities. The allegations proved
to be true.
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- Rafsanjani cautioned that full approval for the signature
would take time. It must be sent to parliament as a bill then approved
by the Guardian Council.
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- Analysts say Iran's reformist government would never
have embarked on the deal without the green light from Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei who has the last word on all state matters.
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- Rafsanjani heads the powerful Expediency Council that
arbitrates between the predominantly reformist parliament and the 12-member
hardline supervisory body, the Guardian Coucil.
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