Iran expects OIC to support its nuclear programme

ISLAMABAD, May 16 (Reuters) Foreign ministers of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) are likely to adopt a resolution supporting Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear technology, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said today.

The three-day meeting of the OIC, the world's largest body of Islamic nations grouping 57 members and five observers, began discussions yesterday of problems facing the Muslim world.

Mottaki said a draft resolution presented before the meeting supports Iran's right to peaceful use of nuclear technology and negotiations for resolving issues without any pre-conditions.

''This is the substance of the text of the draft resolution that we hope will be adopted here,'' he told reporters after meeting his Pakistani counterpart, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri.

Kasuri, chairing the conference, reiterated Pakistan's support of Iran's peaceful use of nuclear energy under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and called for a diplomatic resolution to Tehran's nuclear stand-off with the United States.

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