President Mohammad Khatami of Iran has voiced optimism that Iran will avoid being reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions despite a tough UN report on his country's nuclear programme.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report on Iran obtained by Reuters on Monday it had found no evidence of a secret arms programme but that Tehran had dabbled in activity often associated with bomb-making, such as plutonium production.
"Naturally during 20 years of nuclear activities there were some failures. But that does not mean we violated or moved outside the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Khatami told reporters after a weekly cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Diplomats have said the IAEA findings proved Iran had, at the very least, developed the know-how to build nuclear weapons.
Washington is expected to push for a vote of non-compliance against Iran at the IAEA Board of Governors meeting on November 20 which would send Iran's case to the Security Council.
Asked whether he expected Iran's case to be sent to the Security Council, Khatami said:
"I am sure there will be no problem if they handle the case technically and legally. If the case is handled in a politically motivated way, we consider it our right to adopt different measures, but I am optimistic."
In a bid to head off international concern about its nuclear ambitions, Iran has in recent days submitted a comprehensive report to the IAEA on its past nuclear activities, agreed to allow tougher U.N. inspections of its nuclear sites and suspended uranium enrichment.
"We have repeated so many times, myself the (Supreme) Leader and other officials, that we are not following the path of pursuing nuclear weapons. It's not important what machinery we have, it's important that we are not pursuing nuclear weapons," Khatami said.
