Iran accuses US of spying on its nuclear program

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Source: CCTV.com | 12-09-2007 09:25

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki talks to the reporters in Kuwait in Kuwait City Nov. 25, 2007. Mottaki said on Saturday that Tehran had sent a formal protest to the United States for its "espionage" over Iran's nuclear program. (Xinhua/Reuters, File Photo)

Iran has sent a formal protest note to the United States for what it calls "spying" on Iran's nuclear activities. The protest comes in the wake of the latest US intelligence report on the Iranian nuclear program.

Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, says the protest note was sent on Monday, the same day as the US intelligence report was issued.

Tehran has demanded an explanation over espionage activities.

Mottaki made the remark on Saturday, while speaking to students at a Tehran university.

He also said seventy percent of the US report is true, but denied allegations made in the report that Iran had a nuclear weapons program before 2003.

Mottaki said, "They refused to confess about this thirty percent because they did not want to lose all their reputation or for similar reasons."

The intelligence report says Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003, and has shown no sign of resuming it.

The findings are in stark contrast to a 2005 estimate that said Tehran was continuing its weapons development.

The US has acknowledged the report may make it harder to build international support to persuade Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment program.

At a security conference in Bahrain on Saturday, the US defense chief Robert Gates said Persian Gulf nations must demand that Iran come clean about its past nuclear ambitions and vow not to develop such weapons.

He also warned international leaders to stay tough on Iran.

Gates said, "While we must keep all our options open, the United States and the international community must continue and intensify our economic, financial and diplomatic pressures on Iran to suspend enrichment."

The US and some other Western countries have accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear bombs under a civilian cover.

But Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.

Editor:Du Xiaodan