AFP
Saturday, December 16, 2006

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Saturday offered to share Iranian-made nuclear technology with Arab states in the Gulf after they expressed a desire to acquire it, Iranian media reported.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to provide its experience and valuable achievements in peaceful nuclear technology as a clean source of energy and as oil replacement to all regional countries," Ahmadinejad told a visiting Kuwaiti envoy, Mohammed Zeyfullah Shirar.

Ahmadinejad's offer comes a week after Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders ended a two-day summit in Riyadh by announcing they planned to seek nuclear energy technology.

They said in a statement that "the states of the (Gulf) region have a right to possess nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes ... within the context of the pertinent international agreements."

The GCC leaders also called for a peaceful settlement of the crisis over Iran's nuclear program, which the West suspects could be cover for nuclear weapons development.

Iran insists it only wants to produce electricity for its growing population.