Speaking in an interview with the local newspaper Kurier, which would be published on Saturday, Sheibani said the goal of his country was peaceful, and added, "We see no reason why we should stop peaceful activity."

He said all of Iran's nuclear facilities had been allowed to be under control and had been inspected for 14 times since March 2008.

Sheibani said, "We need no nuclear military equipment", pointing out that Iran is "a religious, Islamic country".

"The Koran says, the one who kills an innocent people, kills a whole nation. Therefore, we have no mass destruction weapons."

In response to the questions on the missile tests last week, Sheibani said those missiles were "purely defensive weapons" and "it is a defending method."

Western countries, headed by the United States, allege that Iran's nuclear program was for military use, and have pushed the UN Security Council to impose three sets of sanctions against Iran since December 2006 in a bid to compel Iran to give up its NPT right of uranium enrichment.

IAEA has sent many times inspectors to Iran to exam its nuclear facilities.

According to the latest schedule, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili would talk with world powers in Geneva on Saturday in an attempt to end the two sides' standoff.

The United States and its Western allies claim that Iran is secretly trying to develop the atomic bomb, but they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their claims.

Iran vehemently denies seeking nuclear weapons, insisting that its program is designed to provide energy for its growing population for the time when its reserves of fossil fuels run out.

Iran is already under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for rejecting to comply with western demand that it give up its nuclear right, describing the call as politically tainted and illegitimate.

Iran has also insisted it would continue enriching uranium because it needs to provide fuel to a 300-megawatt light-water reactor it is building in the southwestern town of Darkhovin as well as its first nuclear power plant under construction in the southern port city of Bushehr.

The US is at loggerheads with Iran over Tehran's independent and home-grown nuclear technology. Washington has laid much pressure on Iran to make it give up the most sensitive and advanced part of the technology, which is uranium enrichment, a process used for producing nuclear fuel for power plants.

Washington's push for additional UN penalties contradicted the recent report by 16 US intelligence bodies that endorsed the civilian nature of Iran's programs. Following the US National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) and similar reports by the IAEA head - one in November and the other one in February - which praised Iran's truthfulness about key aspects of its past nuclear activities and announced settlement of outstanding issues with Tehran, any effort to impose further sanctions on Iran seemed to be completely irrational.

The February report by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, praised Iran's cooperation in clearing up all of the past questions over its nuclear program, vindicating Iran's nuclear program and leaving no justification for any new UN sanctions.

After Iran answered all outstanding questions by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it said that its nuclear case is closed as it has come clean of ambiguities existing around its nuclear program.

Following the said reports by the US and international bodies, many world nations have called the UN Security Council pressures against Iran unjustified, and demanded Iran's nuclear case be normalized and returned from the UNSC to the IAEA.

Source : english.farsnews.com