TEHRAN, June 12 (UPI) -- Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal declared that Iran has a legitimate right to benefit from nuclear energy.
Speaking upon his arrival in Tehran Monday for a one-day official visit, al-Faisal said Iran is aware of its regional and international duties "and has asserted on several times that it will not seek to build nuclear arms, that is why we believe it is its legitimate right to benefit from nuclear energy."
Al-Faisal, who carried a letter from King Abdullah to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stressed that an exchange of visits between Riyadh and Tehran "is a normal matter that takes place between all countries and leads in the end (to) boosting bilateral relations."
His Iranian counterpart, Manushehr Mottaki, said Abdullah and Ahmadinejad agreed during the Iranian leader's recent visit to Mecca in Saudi Arabia to dispatch the Saudi foreign minister to Tehran "with the aim of upgrading regional and international cooperation and consolidating mutual relations."
In a related development, Iranian government spokesman Ghulam Hussein Elham said Monday that Iran considers Western proposals over its nuclear file as "a step forward."
Elham was quoted by the Iranian News Agency, IRNA, as saying "We are studying the European proposals and we will present our viewpoints after we complete the thorough study."
He stressed, however, that there will be no negotiations over Iran's absolute international right to nuclear energy, "but we are ready to conduct negotiations over all international issues and matters of common interest."
Elham reaffirmed once again "Iran's right to possess nuclear technology" and its stance regarding the acquisition of nuclear fuel cycle technologies "was announced clearly several times."
