Iran on Friday denied a claim by the country's main opposition organization which had accused Tehran of constructing secret underground nuclear site in central Iran for military use.

 

Javad Vaidi, deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council noted in a statement that the country's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had "denied the related accusations and there's no secret nuclear site in Iran."

 

"The purposes of making such baseless allegations are to destroy the positive atmosphere ... created by Iran's cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the president's trip to New York," Vaidi said.

 

A senior member of the anti-government National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) told a press conference on Thursday in Paris that the Iranian government was currently building an underground nuclear site mainly for military use.

 

The secret site was just 5 km away from the sensitive Natanz nuclear facilities and has a connective tunnel with Natanz, it added.

 

The NCRI, an alias of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO), has been listed as terrorist group by the US and the EU several years ago.

 

The NCRI accusation came at a time when the international community was discussing a possible new round of sanctions against Iran's nuclear program.

 

The US has accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons under a civilian cover, and has pushed the UN Security Council to adopt its third sanction resolution against the Islamic Republic.

 

Iran has denied the accusation, saying its nuclear program is only for civilian use as the country just wants to generate electricity.

 

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2007)