Iran to limit scholarships abroad over atomic row

Tehran, Mar 1: Iran is ending all scholarships to study in the United States, Canada and Britain because Iranians sent there are barred from signing up for nuclear sciences and similar subjects, state radio said.

Iran is at odds with the United States and European states over its nuclear programme, which the West fears is designed to build atomic bombs. Tehran says it only wants to master the technology needed to generate electricity.

''Because these countries do not accept Iranian students in modern technology majors such as nuclear sciences, the Science Ministry will not send students (there),'' a deputy science, minister, Mahmoud Mollabashi, was quoted as saying yesterday.

The United Nations imposed limited sanctions on Iran's nuclear programme in December and Tehran faces possible further steps for ignoring a February 21 deadline to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can make power plant fuel or, if uranium is greatly enriched, material for warheads.

''When these countries do not accept students in majors in which Iran needs experts, there is no need to send students there,'' Mollabashi said, adding any students who wanted to study in those three countries could still go there at their own cost.

The United States has been pushing for toughening penalties against Iran, with the backing of Britain, France and Germany.

But Mollabashi did not mention if any scholarships to France and Germany were also being stopped.

Relations with Canada, a popular destination for Iranian immigrants, have been soured particularly over the death in custody in 2003 of Zahra Kazemi, a photojournalist who had both Iranian and Canadian nationality.

The detention for four months of an Iranian-Canadian writer, Ramin Jahanbegloo, last year put a further strain on ties.

Reuters

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