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Cuban offers support to
Iranian on nuclear issue
CNN,
February 16, 2006.
HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- Cuba's parliament
speaker on Thursday offered support to his
visiting Iranian counterpart in an escalating
international dispute over the Middle Eastern
nation's use of nuclear power.
"No one has the right to monopolize
any source of energy fundamental for humanity,"
National Assembly President Ricardo Alarcon
said at the start of a meeting with Gholam
Ali Haddad Adel, Iran's parliament speaker
.
"No one has the right to deny any
people the possibility of the peaceful use
of nuclear energy," Alarcon said. "What
the world should combat precisely is the
monopoly that some have over arms of mass
destruction -- nuclear ones in particular."
Led by the United States, some countries
and international organizations are voicing
concerns that Iran is using its nuclear
power program to develop weapons of mass
destruction -- something Iran denies.
Haddad Adel expressed Iran's respect for
the Cuban government and people but did
not address the debate.
The Iranian speaker began a two-day visit
to the island Thursday after visiting Venezuela,
where President Hugo Chavez declared that
Iran has a right to develop nuclear energy
and that the United States is the real nuclear
threat.
Earlier this month, the International Atomic
Energy Agency reported Iran to the U.N.
Security Council over fears it wants to
produce nuclear arms. (Full story)
Of the board's 35 members, 27 nations voted
for referral, reflecting more than two years
of intense lobbying by the United States
and its allies. Venezuela, Cuba and Syria
voted against it, while the remainder abstained.
Amid mounting tensions, Iran resumed small-scale
uranium enrichment last week. Iran insists
the enrichment is for nuclear energy, not
arms.
In the growing international dispute, French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said
Thursday that Iran's nuclear activity is
a cover for a clandestine weapons program
-- Europe's bluntest attack yet in the debate.
(Full story)
Iran's chief nuclear negotiator immediately
dismissed the charge and accused France
of fomenting tensions.
Earlier Thursday in Havana, the Iranian
parliament speaker also made a quick stop
by Cuba's Biotechnology and Engineering
Center. Cuba has a highly developed biotechnology
program and has said it has provided technology
allowing Iran to vaccinate a large percentage
of its children for hepatitis B and other
lifesaving treatments.
The Cuban center three years ago was the
flash point in allegations by then-U.S.
Undersecretary of State John Bolton that
Cuba had provided biotechnology to "other
rogue states" such as Iran and that
United States is concerned the information
could support biological warfare programs.
Former President Carter, who visited Cuba
around the same time, said that before his
trip U.S. officials told him that the United
States had no evidence the communist country
was transferring technology that could be
used for terrorism.
Later Thursday, Haddad Adel was to give
an academic address at the University of
Havana.
He scheduled a news conference for Friday
morning, followed by separate meetings with
Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque
and Vice President Carlos Lage.
The visit was concluding Friday evening
with a joint statement by the parliaments
of Cuba and Iran.
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