Iranian official slams UN monitoring station in Turkmenistan

TEHRAN, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A former Iranian diplomat said a UN seismic monitoring station in Turkmenistan near the border with Iran aims to spy on Iran's nuclear program, the satellite Press TV reported.

The UN announced last week the completion of a nuclear warning station near Turkmenistan-Iran border that monitor for seismic activity and radioactivity. The station can detect earthquakes, weak blasts and shock waves caused by nuclear experiments.

Iran's former ambassador to Italy Abolfazl Zohrehvand said Wednesday the international treaty that allows for setting up such monitoring stations is a "spy treaty".

The collected information by the station "will be directly sent to the center in Vienna," and the host country has no access to the information, said Zohrehvand, who is also an adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili.

He said the UN planned to set up more than one such station around Iran.

Western powers suspect Iran of attempting to build nuclear weapons, but Tehran has said its nuclear program is only for civilian purposes.