The Muslim News

London, IRNA:

The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) supports the Iranian government's right to nuclear research, says the secretary-general of the 56-nation group, Professor Ekmeleddin Inhanoglu.

Speaking at a news conference at the Foreign Press Association in London Friday, Inhanoglu also said that his organization was opposed to the double standards being used over Iran's case at the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.

"We are with Iran and for Iran," he said when asked why the OIC does not seem to support its member state in the rising tensions between Tehran and Washington.

"We defend the right of any state to acquire nuclear capability for research and peaceful use," the Turkish professor told foreign journalists.

He also said that the OIC was "staunch supporter" of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

"It should be adhered to by everybody and not by somebody," he added in reference to the case of Zionist regime.

The OIC secretary general said that his organization supported the resolution of Iran's case through diplomatic means.

"We are against the use of power and against the imposition of sanctions" which have been threatened by some countries in taking the case to the UN Security Council.

Inhanoglu warned about the dangerous situation being created in the developing crisis, saying that "any spark" could inflame the region.

"We don't want any conflict in the Middle East. We have had enough. Enough is enough," he stressed.

The Middle East, he said, should be a zone "free" of weapons of mass destruction. "Nobody should have nuclear weapons" in the region, he said.

The OIC secretary general has been visiting London, during which he has held meetings with Foreign Secretary Jack Straw on Wednesday and with representatives of the Muslim community on Thursday.

After meeting Straw, they issued a joint statement, stressing that "the need to enhance cooperation and deepen understanding between peoples, cultures and faiths has never been more important than present."

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