TEHRAN: Iran's envoy to the IAEA said Wednesday his country 'will never compromise its legitimate rights' in pursuing its atomic programme.
"As a responsible state, the Islamic republic of Iran will never compromise its legitimate rights and will continue to comply with its commitments under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Ali Asghar Soltanieh said, as cited by the official IRNA news agency.
"Iran will continue its peaceful nuclear activities. And, just as many other previous claims were proven baseless, this time also they will not bear any results," he said.
Soltanieh stressed that Iran's nuclear programme was entirely peaceful and that Iran would continue to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
His comments came a day after the IAEA released its report saying "credible" evidence existed to suggest Iran had done work towards building nuclear warheads.
Soltanieh, who late Tuesday dismissed the report as 'politically motivated', on Wednesday accused IAEA chief Yukiya Amano of making a 'historic mistake' in releasing the document.
Amano had displayed 'unbalanced, unprofessional and political' behaviour in publishing the report, which contained 'false claims' based on information from Iran's arch-foe the United States and other countries, Soltanieh said.