U.S. President George W. Bush Wednesday welcomed Iran's pledge to accept intrusive inspections of its nuclear program as a "very positive development".
The reaction came after Iran yielded to international pressure to prove it was not developing nuclear weapons and agreed Tuesday to permit tougher inspections of its nuclear sites and to halt uranium enrichment.
Bush was speaking at a joint press conference with Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri on the island of Bali during a stopover.
Meanwhile, Russia too hailed Wednesday Iran's pledge to open its nuclear program to intrusive U.N. inspections as a "positive step" which should ease pressure on Moscow over its nuclear cooperation with Tehran.
"We welcome this decision, this is a positive step," AFP cited Nikolai Shingaryev, the top spokesman for the Russian Atomic Energy Ministry, as saying.
"Russia has come under certain pressure because of Bushehr...this agreement will certainly simplify and make our cooperation easier," he added, in reference to the nuclear power plant which Russia is building for Iran. (Albawaba.com)
© 2003 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
