UN chief calls on Iran, U.S. to ease tension

TEHRAN, Jan. 8 (MNA) – United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on both Iran and the United States to defuse the tension building up between them. “Both sides must do their best to first of all defuse the tension in the region and try to resolve all issues, differences of opinion, through dialogue, in peaceful means,” Ban told reporters at a New Year meeting on Friday. However, he said that Iran must prove that its nuclear program is not aimed at producing weapons. “At the same time Iran should fully comply with the relevant resolutions of the Security Council,” Ban added. The UN Security Council has passed four rounds of sanctions against Iran calling on it to end uranium enrichment. The main bone of contention between Tehran and the West is Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Iran says all its nuclear activities are entirely peaceful, and, as an International Atomic Energy Agency member and a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory, it has the legal right to produce nuclear fuel for its research reactors and nuclear power plants.