An senior Iranian official on Thursday rejected UN chief Ban Ki-moon's recent remarks over the country's nuclear program, saying Ban's position "should be in line with the UN charter".

Ban Ki-moon, after a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush, said he and Bush agreed that "Iran's nuclear program was one of the most dangerous to world peace and security", and saying such issue "has very serious and wide implications for not only the Mideast but also all around the world".

In a response to Ban's remarks, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said, "Such kind of remarks by Ban Ki-moon was contrary to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, because the treaty protects the right of countries to utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes," local ISNA news agency.

"The positions and attitudes of the secretary general should be in line with the United Nations charter, and he should concentrate on the serious dangers and threats to world peace from Israel," he added.

The UN Security Council last month passed resolution 1737, deciding to impose sanctions on Iran's nuclear and missile program and called on the country to suspend uranium enrichment activities. However, Iran rejected the request and vowed to install at least 3, 000 centrifuges by March of 2007.

The United States and Israel have never ruled out the possibility of military strike on Iran's nuclear sites. U.S.-Iran relations had turned worse recently due to the arrest of Iranian diplomats by U.S. forces in Iraq.

A Kuwaiti newspaper disclosed last week that the U.S. had decided to lunch military strike on Iran from the sea before this April and will deploy PAC-3 anti-aircraft missile systems in Arab countries. But Whitehouse has denied the rumors, saying the U.S. currently has no intention to attack Iran.

Referring to the rumor of U.S. military attack against Iran before this April, Ban expressed his opposition to any preemptive military action, saying "such option should be discussed at the Security Council".

Source: Xinhua