Himalayan News Service

Islamabad, May 30:

Pakistan has denied that President Pervez Musharraf had told a German magazine that Iran was “very anxious” to have a nuclear bomb following Tehran’s demand for a clarification.

The German magazine Der Spiegel had quoted Musharraf as saying that “they (Iran) are very anxious to have the bomb.” Pakistan’s foreign office spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said the president had been misquoted and that he had not made the remark, reports Online news agency. However, Jilani confirmed that Musharraf had told the magazine that he did not know how to stop Iran from developing a military nuclear programme. Iran had demanded a clarification after the magazine carried the comments on Saturday. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said yesterday it was “very unlikely that Musharraf said such a thing, because he knows better”. “I would say there was a distortion and it is unlikely that such comments were made. We hope the Pakistanis explain that this report was distorted,” said Asefi.

Iran has been under an international nuclear investigation for two years and maintains that its programme is for peaceful purposes. “It is not the business of other countries to comment in this regard. It is up to us to say what we are seeking and not seeking. We are insisting we are not seeking such weapons,” said Asefi. In the Der Spiegel article, Musharraf was also quoted as saying that a US attack to stop Iran developing nuclear arms would be “a disaster”.

“That would provoke a rebellion in the Muslim world,” he was quoted as saying. “Why open up new fronts?”

Pakistan has been closely linked to Iran’s alleged nuclear programme since the revelation that Pakistani scientist AQ Khan illegally transferred nuclear technology to Iran and other countries.