Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Tuesday repeated that the imbroglio surrounding Tehran's nuclear program would only be solved through political consultation and diplomatic approaches. 

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, where he was attending UN meetings on disarmament and human rights, Mottaki insisted external pressure would yield no results and dismissed the Security Council Resolutions as unhelpful.

Any action aiming to resolve the nuclear issue must be "neutral and balanced" and take into account Iran's legal rights, he said, adding that as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it was Iran's inalienable right to peacefully develop and use nuclear energy.

Although Iran will not halt nuclear activities, it always stands ready to broker a peaceful solution.

Addressing potential US military actions against Iran, Mottaki said his country stood ready for all situations. However, he played down any chance of a military invasion, preferring to place hopes in a cooperative solution.

Earlier in the day, Mottaki spoke at a session Conference on Disarmament, saying that Iran would agree to offering "necessary guarantees" on its nuclear program once the UN Security Council had ceased debating the issue.

If the Security Council's five permanent members plus Germany "allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to take Iran's nuclear issue over from the Security Council, my country will offer necessary guarantees to help boost confidence regarding non-diversion of its nuclear program," Mottaki said.

However, Mottaki provided no details on the specific guarantees that could be tabled.

Meanwhile, the 15-member UN Security Council will begin further consultations on Wednesday afternoon to mull over possible sanctions against Iran council members moved closer to a draft resolution on Tuesday.

"At 5 PM tomorrow afternoon, the P5 (the five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) will brief the council and propose a draft, whether an agreement has been forthcoming or not," said South African Ambassador Dumisani Kumalo, the council's president for March.

Addressing the Iranian president's desire to speak at a Security Council meeting, Kumalo said that so far he had not received such a request from the Iranian government. 

Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham announced Monday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, wished to attend a UN Security Council meeting to defend the country's nuclear program.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2007)