UN chief urges negotiations on Iran nuclear row

"As a matter of principle, this matter (the nuclear dispute) should be resolved peacefully through dialogue, through negotiations," United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in an interview with the RIA Novosti on Wednesday prior to his visit to Moscow.

He urged Iranian authorities to "fully comply with relevant Security Council resolutions on nuclear development program."

"As a secretary-general, I have been urging publicly and privately, whenever I was meeting with Iranian authorities and leadership, to fully cooperate with (the International Atomic Energy Agency) IAEA and also implement the Security Council resolutions, and I will continue to do that," he said.

Iran, a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), says its nuclear work is directed at the civilian applications of the technology.

However, the US and its allies accuse Tehran of pursuing a military objective in its nuclear program, despite affirmation by the IAEA of Iran's non-diversion in its activities.

The UN chief responded to proposals made by various members of the UN Security Council about the possibility of imposing new sanction measures on Iran.

"I understand that the Security Council members are discussing and consulting on the issue of taking further sanction measures. This is something that is to be determined by the council members," he said.

Western countries have imposed three rounds of UNSC sanctions on Iran for its refusal to bow to pressure to halt its peaceful nuclear program and are currently lobbying for a fourth. The US, meanwhile, has opted to impose unilateral sanctions on Tehran for its nuclear enrichment program.

According to a draft proposal, the new sanctions intend to restrict access of Iranian banks to international operations, stopping short of imposing sanctions against Iran's oil and gas industries.

Iran, as well as many heads of state and analysts, has insisted that the planned sanctions against the Islamic Republic will prove futile, given Iran's growing expansion of economic and political ties with many non-Western countries.


/Press TV/