Khatami denies Iranian nuclear-weapons intentions

Sep 7, 2006, 22:46 GMT

Washington - Iranian former president Mohammed Khatami denied that his country is pursing nuclear weapons and called for negotiations without preconditions, during a press conference Thursday in Washington.

He spoke to reporters at the National Cathedral, where he was to speak later Thursday to an invited audience. Khatami is the highest- ranking current or former Iranian official to visit the US - outside of UN headquarters in New York - since diplomatic ties were severed in 1980.

He has already made appearances in Chicago and New York since the weekend.

'Building nuclear technology is very different than building nuclear weapons,' Khatami said through a translator. 'The IAEA has not found any non-peaceful nuclear programme.'

A reformist-oriented Shiite cleric who served two terms as president from 1997-2005, Khatami was the standard-bearer for Iran's democratic opposition but was often thwarted by hardliners who control the levers of power in Iran.

He pointed out that three states in Iran's neighbourhood already have nuclear weapons: Israel, India and Pakistan, none signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The Iranian nuclear issue is stalemated over the insistence by international powers - led by the US and Western Europe - that Tehran suspend uranium enrichment before talks can continue.

Khatami said that the timing of an Iranian suspension of uranium enrichment should be addressed as part of negotiations, rather than as a precondition.

'We should not make the issue an issue of pride,' he said. 'We are in search of a solution.'