Iran's new nuclear chief urges mutual trust in nuclear row

TEHRAN, July 18 (Xinhua) -- Iran's new Atomic Energy Organization Chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Saturday urged more efforts to gain mutual trust in order to end the disputes over the country's nuclear program, local English-language Press TV reported on Saturday.

"We hope that, instead of a continuation of the hostilities over the past six years, more efforts will be made to obtain mutual trust. So that the case lasting for six years will be closed as soon as possible," Salehi was quoted as saying in his first official interview since his appointment with the state broadcaster IRIB.

"Legal and technical discussions about Iran's nuclear case have

finished. As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly announced there is no room left to keep this case open," Salehi said, "since the world's stability depends on Iran's stability, all sides should try to end this issue in the best way possible."

"We will enter the scene with a fresh perspective," he said, adding that Iranian Atomic Energy Organization will respect its international commitments as much as it will defend Iran's nuclear rights.

He also warned that the nuclear row would prove "harmful to all."

The official IRNA news agency reported on Friday that the former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency Ali Akbar Salehi was appointed as the vice president of Iran and the new chief of the Atomic Energy Organization to replace Gholam Reza Aghazadeh.

Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, the incumbent atomic chief and vice president, confirmed on Thursday he had forwarded his resignation from his responsibilities to President Ahmadinejad and his resignation has been accepted.