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Iran official urges cooperation on nukes

VIENNA, March 30 (UPI) -- A top Iranian nuclear official has urged countries uneasy about Iran's nuclear plans to abandon intimidation and try cooperation instead.

Ali-Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in an interview with the Islamic Republic News Agency in Vienna that intimidating political statements "would only worsen conditions."

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"The only peaceful solution is continuation of dialogue within the framework of the IAEA charter," he said, adding "political pressures would have not a mere impact on the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear policies."

The Iranian foreign minister meanwhile stressed Iran's right to acquire peaceful nuclear technology.

In an address to the U.N. Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Manouchehr Mottaki Mottaki said access to peaceful nuclear technology was Iran's indisputable right.

His remarks came hours after the U.N. Security Council in New York unanimously voted to give Iran 30 days to heed long-running calls to abandon its uranium enrichment activities.

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