( IRNA ) - Cuba's minister for Foreign Relations, Felipe Perez Roque, has reiterated that the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) defended the right of countries like Iran to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes
Roque said punitive action could not be taken against Iran on the basis of suspicion because the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) did not find any evidence of a military program.
Cuba is currently the chair of the 118-member Nam.
" Iran has the right as any other country to completely master the nuclear cycle, including production of nuclear fuel. That is a right recognised by the NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) and no country can be prevented from its right to acquire that technology for peaceful purposes and the right to produce nuclear fuel cannot be prevented either," he told reporters here Thursday, after concluding his two-day visit to India.
Asserting that the US had "no moral authority" to ask other countries to change because it stockpiled weapons, he said that Washington's reluctance to discuss Israel's nuclear program in the UNSC but readiness to get the UNSC to impose sanctions on Iran illustrated its "double standards".
Dwelling on Washington's aggressive designs, he said that the US was waging an "economic war" against Cuba and financing terrorist acts against Cuban nationals.
Roque, who is on a three-nation tour of Asia which will take him to Vietnam and China as well, said that he hopes India will raise the voice of NAM when it becomes a permanent member of the UNSC, Asian Age reported here Friday.
Cuba wants two countries each from Asia, Africa and Latin America as new UNSC members with veto powers.
"Open, transparent and inclusive debate [should replace] the deleterious and dangerous trend of secret meetings of the Permanent Five, of coming with decision (taken) beforehand," he said in response to a question about UN reform.
He said that the US has pushed Iraq to the "brink of fragmentation" and there could be no solution without withdrawing the US troops from there.
"An attack on Iran would further complicate matters in the region... we hope that will not be the case," he said.
Earlier, he told "Asian Age on the sidelines of a function at Jamia Millia Islamia University that he had "a very useful conversation" on bilateral, regional and international issues with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.