Islamabad: Iran has the right to pursue nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, opposing UN sanctions against the Middle East nation for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
''Pakistan had never been in favor of sanctions against Iran,'' Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammed Khan said. ''We always emphasized that there ought to be a diplomatic solution of the Iranian nuclear issue.''
Khan's comments came after the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution on Saturday to bar countries from supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs.
The sanctions also freeze the Iranian assets of 10 key companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.
Khan said that Pakistan was still studying provisions of the UN resolution, but added they would not affect cooperation between the two countries as their relationship did not involve nuclear technology.
In 2004, Abdul Qadeer Khan, a former scientist, considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, confessed in 2004 that he leaked sensitive technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
But Pakistani officials have said that the government was not aware of Khan's nuclear black-market deals. Officials later said that Khan gave centrifuges - machines used to enrich uranium - to Iran and North Korea and supplied designs for nuclear weapons to Libya.
Khan has been pardoned by President General Pervez Musharraf, who cited his contribution to making Pakistan a nuclear power. Pakistan carried out nuclear tests in 1998 to match those by rival India the same year.
The Foreign Ministry official said that Iran should be allowed to acquire peaceful nuclear technology under UN supervision.
''We believe that Iran has right to access peaceful nuclear technology under IAEA safeguards,'' Khan said referring to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran is accused by the United States of trying to develop nuclear weapons but Iranian leaders say their country's nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity.
The UN resolution against Iran came after months of stalled diplomatic efforts by several Western nations to persuade the hardline Islamic nation to suspend uranium enrichment, a process used to produce fuel for nuclear reactors or material for atomic weapons.
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