'Majlis shrugs off offer to close Fordo'

Iran Press TV

Sun Feb 17, 2013 11:47PM GMT

Iran's Majlis (Parliament) has shrugged off the West's offer to ease some sanctions in return for the closure of the Fordo nuclear facility plant, Press TV reports.

In an open session of the parliament held on Sunday, the Iranian parliamentarians shrugged off the offer by the major powers of the world about suspension of sanctions on trade in gold and precious metals in case the Islamic Republic agrees to close the Fordo nuclear facility plant.

The MPs believed that such an offer from the West is considered illicit within the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

"Simply presenting such a proposal is against the rules of the IAEA while the proposal itself is not rational. We have said this very clearly and many times before that within the framework of the NPT closing down our site is completely out of question," Hossein Naqavi Hosseini, the spokesman for Iran's Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy, stated.

"…Not only is their proposal considered illegal in the framework of IAEA, honestly, it is not even appealing either…," Mehdi Sanaei, an Iranian lawmaker, noted.

On Saturday, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei called for the destruction of nuclear weapons across the world, saying Iran never plans to build such arms.

"We believe that nuclear weapons must be obliterated, and we do not intend to make nuclear weapons, but if we had not had this belief and had decided to possess nuclear weapons, no power could have prevented us," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the NPT and a member of the IAEA, it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.

NT/HN