MOSCOW - Iran's deputy security chief said Tuesday that Moscow was pressing Tehran to "develop a feeling of trust" with the rest of the world concerning its nuclear ambitions and that the Islamic state planned to follow suit.
Supreme National Security Council deputy head Hussein Musavian said after crisis talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov that Tehran was keeping to its right to enrich uranium despite global fears that this would see it develop nuclear arms.
But he stressed that Iran had no plans to build nuclear weapons -- and that it could have done so some 20 years ago but chose against an atomic weapon at the time.
"Russia is pressing us to develop a feeling of trust with the rest of the world and this is what we plan to do," Musavian told reporters.
Russia is in a sensitive position concerning Iran's atomic program since it is building the Islamic state's first nuclear reactor in the town of Bushehr despite protests from Israel and the United States.
Iran's moratorium on the enrichment of uranium expires in June and Musavian hinted strongly that Tehran would soon resume the program.
"Iran is prepared to give its agreement not to develop nuclear weapons to the whole world, so that the whole world has no worries about our nuclear program.
"At the same time, Iran has a right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology, and we have no intention of ceding this right.
"The enrichment of uranium is a given right of any nation."
Musavian's visit to Russia came only days after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon warned US President George W. Bush that Iran was approaching a "point of no return" concerning its nuclear program.
Musavian called such charges a "gross mistake" and said that Iran could have developed nuclear weapons in the 1980s when the German industry giant Siemens started to build the Bushehr plant before dropping the project under US pressure.
"This is a very gross mistake," he said in reference to Sharon's comments.
"This has never been a part of our military plans. Back in the 1980s, Iran had the option of acquiring these technologies. But Iran did not do this."
He also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning his first trip to Iran in the near future but that a final date has not yet been set.
"We have agreed that a visit will come in the near future ... but we have to prepare well for this visit first so that we have a full agenda."
04/19/2005 14:49 GMT