Russia, India back Iran's nuclear rights

Russia, India back Iran's nuclear rights

Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh ahead of a meeting at Singh's residence in New Delhi on December 24, 2012

Tue Dec 25, 2012 3:39AM GMT

0

Russia and India have agreed that the Islamic Republic of Iran has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh made the remarks in a joint statement issued on Monday.

The statement, issued at the end of the 13th India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi, also said the only way to deal with the issue is through political channels and diplomacy.

In addition, the two countries signed $2.9 billion in contracts, according to which Russia will sell India military helicopters and technological kits for manufacturing warplanes.

On Friday, the European Union imposed new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear energy program, which include blacklisting an individual and a group of companies.

On December 13, the US Treasury Department also imposed sanctions on seven Iranian companies and five nuclear experts for contributing to the country’s nuclear energy program.

At the beginning of 2012, the United States and the EU imposed new sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors with the goal of preventing other countries from purchasing Iranian oil and conducting transactions with the Central Bank of Iran.

The illegal US-engineered sanctions were imposed based on the unfounded accusation that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program.

Iran rejects the allegations, arguing that as a committed signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.

In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that Iran's civilian nuclear program has been diverted to nuclear weapons production.