TEHRAN, May 23 (UPI) -- Iran blasted Saudi Arabia for being skeptical about the true motives of its nuclear program, which Tehran insists is for peaceful objectives.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asafi said Iran's nuclear program is fully monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency and that Tehran deals with the issue on the basis of trust.
"We are surprised by the repeated unrealistic comments by Saudi officials about Iran's nuclear program," Asafi was quoted as saying Tuesday by Iranian news agency IRNA.
"Iran was at no time in the process of making a nuclear bomb and it is not in need for it and we expect Saudi officials not to fall for allegations of others," he added, referring to the United States and the European Union.
He stressed that Iran wants a region free from weapons of mass destruction, noting that "using nuclear energy for peaceful objectives is the right of all countries, including Iran."
Asafi charged that countries criticizing Iran over its nuclear program "forget that the Zionist entity (Israel) possessed nuclear arms."
He said Iran has assured many Arab Gulf countries about its nuclear program and its good intentions and believes that direct negotiations are beneficial to exchange points of view.
Saudi Arabia, which leads the six-state oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council of Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, has expressed concern about Iran's nuclear program.
