US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said that Iran is entitled to the peaceful use of civilian nuclear power but renewed accusations that the Islamic republic was seeking atomic weapons.

“Iran is entitled to the peaceful use of civilian nuclear power. They are not entitled to a nuclear weapons programme,” Clinton said.

Speaking on the sidelines of a UN Security Council debate in United Nations, she said what they (Iran) are doing is starting a reactor that is, based on everything we know about it and everything that the Russians have informed us about it since they have worked with the Iranians over many years to build this reactor, strictly for peaceful purposes.

“Our problem is not with their reactor at Bushehr. Our problem is with their facilities at places like Natanz and their secret facility at Qom and other places where we believe they are conducting their weapons programme,” she said.

“We are hoping that the Iranians will come back to the table soon with the what we call the P-5+1 or the E-3+3, headed by Cathy Ashton, to begin an in-depth negotiation over their nuclear arms programme,” she said.

“This reactor is monitored by the IAEA with cooperation from Russia. We have monitoring in place on something and we believe Iran has the right to produce peaceful nuclear power,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters at his daily news conference.

Earlier, State Department spokesman P J Crowley said that it believes that Busher nuclear reactor is for peaceful purpose and does not pose a proliferation risk.

“We recognise that the Bushehr reactor is designed to provide civilian nuclear power and we do not view it as a proliferation risk because it is under IAEA safeguards and because Russia is providing both the needed fuel and then taking back the spent nuclear fuel, which would be the principal source of our proliferation concerns,” Crowley said.