Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Tuesday that Iran, in efforts to build the international community's confidence in its nuclear program, was was even ready to give governments of other states or their private companies ownership of its nuclear fields.

Mottaki's remarks were part of his address to the first day-long international conference on Latin America which opened here Tuesday.

Pointing to Monday's meeting of the 5+1 Group (Britain, France, US, China, Russia plus Germany) in London, he stressed that "Iran's peaceful nuclear activities are very transparent."

"Iran has presented proposals to remove concerns (of the international community). Such offers have never been raised by any other nuclear fuel producer in the world," he said.

He reiterated an earlier Iranian proposal calling on states and/or their private sector companies to participate in Iran's nuclear activities and to acquire stakes in its power plants.

Iran believes in mutual confidence building, the minister said, adding that there should be no room for concern as "Iran's nuclear activities are carried out under supervision of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors and in full view of its cameras."

"IAEA inspectors can travel to Iran whenever they request. There is no problem in this regard."

Mottaki said: "Tehran has responded to several questions raised by the IAEA and is ready to answer more."

He said the move to send Iran's nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council was "politically motivated and illegal," arguing that IAEA Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei, based on inspections carried out by its inspectors, has never reported any diversion in Iran's nuclear activities from their stated peaceful purposes.

Mottaki reiterated Iran's readiness to hold talks on the country's nuclear activities without pre-conditions and give guarantees of their peaceful purpose as well as the country's commitment to non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.

"Everyone has confirmed that commitment to the safeguards regime is more important than refusal to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran is ready to hold talks in this regard."

He moreover said that possession of advanced technologies have led certain countries to monopolize enrichment to the detriment of other coutries who desire to conduct similar activities for peaceful purposes.

Iran does not seek nuclear weapons, he reiterated, adding that there is no basis for comparison of Iran's peaceful nuclear program with those of countries which have conducted nuclear tests.

The Iranian minister said the West has not been faithful to its undertakings under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), one of which is to provide countries, including Iran, which have the desire to develop nuclear energy, with the needed technology. "This has been a sore point in all agreements signed by Iran with the West in the past 200 years."

He said that "whenever it was Iranian interests that was at stake, the West found it all too easy to renege on its commitments."

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