UNN, Brussels, March 27, 2010 – Secretary General of NATO Anders Rasmussen accused Iran on Saturday of hiding its real intentions behind its nuclear programme which he said posed a threat to Europe.
Iran has singed the NPT treaty as a non nuclear-weapon state.
It is developing a nuclear programme that it claims is for civilian purpose only.
However, Iran has gone far beyond what is necessary for a purely civilian programme, he told the Brussels Forum Saturday.
Rasmussen said Iran has concealed several nuclear facilities from the IAEA. It has played hide and seek with the International community and it has rejected all offers of cooperation that the United States, the Europeans and others have made. He continued that most recently Tehran has announced to enrich its uranium ’which appears incompatible with civilian use in defiance of several UN resolutions.
He said Iran’s missiles can reach NATO allies like Greece, Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria.
Referring to the launching by Iran of a space rocket, Ramussen said this is a key stage in developing intermediate and intercontinental range missiles.
If Iran were to complete this development then the whole of the European continent as well as Russia would be in range, he warned.
Rasmussen stressed that ’proliferators must know that we are unwavering in our determination to collective defence.