ISLAMABAD, 15 December 2005 — Pakistan yesterday reiterated its support for talks between Iran and the European Union on the row over Tehran’s nuclear program and said it opposed the use of force against its western Muslim neighbor.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said he hoped talks between Iran and the EU, expected this month, would lead to an “amicable solution” to the standoff.
“Pakistan is against the use of force on Iran’s nuclear issue,” Kasuri’s ministry quoted him as saying in a meeting with visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
Kasuri said the dispute over Iran’s nuclear program, which the West sees as a smokescreen for developing nuclear weapons, should be settled within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran denies accusations it is developing nuclear weapons and says its nuclear project aims solely to generate power for an energy-hungry economy.
Kasuri said Pakistan supported Iran’s legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.
Pakistan, a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, faces a tricky balancing act as it tries to keep strategic ties with the United States while maintaining good relations with Iran.
Nuclear-armed Pakistan admitted in March that Abdul Qadeer Khan, a scientist revered as the father of its atomic bomb, had supplied Iran with centrifuges that can be used to produce enriched uranium.
Mottaki arrived in Pakistan yesterday on a two-day visit.
The two ministers also discussed a proposed $7 billion pipeline that would carry Iranian gas to energy-hungry India via Pakistan, a project opposed by the United States.
Kasuri said Pakistan wanted early implementation of the project and officials from Pakistan and India would discuss the project at talks this week in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
