US encouraged Iran in 1978 to develop nuclear technology: professor

IRNA
Dec. 12, 2006

Iran and US signed an agreement in 1978 which allowed Tehran to seek nuclear technology in order to meet its future energy demands but no one now talks about the agreement, said a political science professor on Tuesday. Addressing an international conference of world geologists in this ancient city, central Iran, Professor of Political Geography and Geopolitics Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh said it was the US that encouraged Iran to develop nuclear energy.

"At that time, Americans had predicted that Iran's population would reach 100 million by 2025 and this would face the country with an energy crisis," said the professor who is also head of the London-based research foundation, 'Eurosevic Institute'.

He said as the then US officials believed that Tehran would be deprived of its forex incomes after consuming all its fossil energy for domestic uses, they (Americans) proposed the former regime of the defunct Shah to launch a nuclear program.

"The only thing which has changed since then in Iran is the country's political system," said the professor adding, "And this is a change that has also changed US strategy towards the country." Mojtahedzadeh regretted that no one has ever mentioned the issue oncerning the 1978 agreement between Iran and the US.

"There was an agreement between Iran and US but it has been mentioned nowhere," he said.

Criticizing Washington's repeated accusations against Iran that the country's nuclear program was for military purposes, the professor said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly confirmed that Iran has not violated any laws or regulations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Referring to Washington's bid to portray Iran as a defiant country, Mojtahedzadeh said, "This is a clear example of complete lawlessness."

Commenting on referral of Iran nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council, the professor said they took the case to the council "because they want to convict a Muslim state."

The US and its European allies are to punish Iran for being not guilty, complained the professor.