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Tehran, May 26, IRNA -- Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi here Sunday welcomed Russian President Vladimir Putin's position in defending nuclear cooperation between Tehran and Moscow during US President George W Bush's visit to that country.
"President Putin's recent stance on Iran is in accordance with the national interests of that country," Kharrazi said, adding nuclear cooperation between the two countries is 'legitimate' and 'transparent'.
"Cooperation between Iran and Russia in the field of technology is clear and it is a natural right of the Russian president to defend this cooperation," he added.
Kharrazi stressed that Iran's nuclear energy facilities, built with Russian assistance in the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr, was under regular supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Nuclear cooperation between Iran and Russia are transparent and under the supervision of the IAEA and there is nothing to conceal to be used as a pretext by others," he said.
Kharrazi rejected US accusations against Iran as 'baseless', saying they were intended to exert pressure the Islamic Republic invoked by the racist Israeli provocations.
President Bush has accused Iran of forming part of an 'axis of evil' along with Iraq and North Korea, which seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
"What is important at this juncture is whether any country, bar America, is buying these pressures on Iran," Kharrazi said.
"Other countries have not reacted positively to this view which is only held by the American president," he added.
Putin, addressing a joint news conference with George W. Bush in the Kremlin on Friday, rejected Washington's claims that Moscow's nuclear cooperation with Iran could lead to Tehran's developing weapons of mass destruction.
"Nuclear cooperation between Iran and Russia does not undermine the non-proliferation treaty," Putin said.
"While other countries are trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction, I don't understand why all this is said only about Iran," he added.
Washington claims that Russian assistance to Iran to construct a nuclear energy plant in the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr may enable the Islamic Republic to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Both Tehran and Moscow have repeatedly rejected these claims, with Iran opening the plant to regular supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) which has confirmed its intention for peaceful means.
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