Iran claimed on Thursday to have fully cooperated with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and said it wanted to return to the IAEA's framework, one day after the US threatened to urge the UN Security Council to use sanctions to back diplomacy.

Speaking at the meeting of the IAEA Board of Governors, Iranian Ambassador to the Agency Ali Asghar Soltanie said that Iran's nuclear program and activities were "exclusively for peaceful purposes."

The Iranian diplomat also hit out at the US for describing sanctions as acts of diplomacy.

"The world has to know that the US declared 'sanctions' as 'diplomacy' in the same way (the) unilateral military invasion in Iraq (was described) as 'multilateral diplomacy'," he said, adding, "The decisions on referring Iran's nuclear dossier to the UNSC were based on ridiculous motivations."

The US has "poisoned the environment" on the eve of the negotiations between EU High Representative Javier Solana and Iran's Secretary of National Security Council Dr Larijani, said the Iranian ambassador.

Soltanie declared that the EU-Iranian talks were "welcomed by almost all delegates."

He said he was fully prepared to have comprehensive review of technical, legal, security and political aspects in an open debate with the US ambassador.

The IAEA has been much weakened since its establishment as an independent technical international organization, he said, implying influence from the US
Soltanie told the meeting that the international community was carefully monitoring the developments in this historical juncture, concerning not the nuclear issue of Iran, but a member state's right to acquire nuclear technology and to apply it for peaceful purposes.
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US envoy Gregory Schulte issued a statement on Wednesday, saying it was time to urge the United Nations Security Council to make sanctions to back up its diplomatic efforts.

The US envoy also said that the sanctions, even if imposed, would not mean an end to further negotiations.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2006)