United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in Madrid yesterday that Iran has the right to use nuclear power for peaceful means, but it must also fulfill its obligations by giving security guarantees.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Annan said: "Of course Iran has the right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, but of course it must also comply with all its obligations under the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty."

He said that no nation intended to deprive Iran of peacefully using nuclear energy and Iran has said it has no intention to develop nuclear weapons, so the most important thing was for both sides to be sitting at the negotiating table.

Zapatero said the solution depended on Iran "bringing guarantees to the international community, and the community establishing controls that are acceptable to Iran."

"The situation can only have one solution: reaching an agreement with Iran," Zapatero said. Iran must respect international norms, while the international community should find a solution that did not disturb international order.

In a separate press conference in Madrid on the same day, Mohamed El Baradei, general director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), urged Iran to cooperate with the IAEA's inspectors, so that there would be time for diplomatic solutions. He said there was no evidence that nuclear material was being diverted to weapons-making.