Iranˈs President Hassan Rouhani said here Monday Iran believes the Middle East should be free from all types of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), and especially the nuclear weapons, IRNA reported.
'We believe the Middle East must be declared as a WMD-free, and especially a nuclear weapons-free region, and the Islamic Republic of Iran presented the related proposal to the UN many years ago,' said Hassan Rouhani Monday evening in a meeting with the visiting Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Miroslav Lajcak.
The Iranian president further stressed that the WMD, including the nuclear weapons, are extremely hazardous, and therefore they should be wiped off from the whole world.
'We have numerous times, and very clearly announced that we consider the possession of the nuclear weapons and whole weapons mass destruction as inappropriate acts, but we meanwhile recognize every country's right to be benefitted from peaceful nuclear energy,' said President Rouhani.
He said that that is because this technology is used in most hospitals of the world for identifying the diseases and curing them, for electivity generation and for the agricultural sector greatly, and no country should be deprived of this technology.
Nuclear Negotiations
Focusing on other issues on which Iran and Slovakia can consult on and cooperate in the international scene, President Rouhani said, 'Although Slovakia is not a member of the 5+1G, but it is a member of the EU and it can therefore be effective in being fruitful of the nuclear negotiations and in achieving a comprehensive agreement in time.'
He referred to the win-win strategy of Iran in its nuclear negotiations with the six world powers, expressing hope that although the nuclear talks are tough and sensitive, 'there are chances that the win-win strategy will work and everyone will be able to be benefitted from it.'
The Slovak foreign minister, too, said that his country uses the nuclear energy in economic field and believes that every country in the world must be able to use the nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Deputy Prime Minister Lajcak, too, said for his part that he was agreed with President Rouhani on the point that the word sanctions needed to be eliminated from the world's political lexicons and replaced with the word cooperation.
Expressing deep worry about the expansion of the terrorism phenomenon in the region and the world, the Slovak foreign minister said that his country believes the entire capacities of all world countries, especially Iran, needed to be used in campaign against terrorism.