Algiers (IRNA) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said on Monday that negotiations would be the only means of resolving the Iran nuclear dispute.

Mubarak's remarks came during an interview with the Italian newspaper `Corriere della Sera'.

All signatories to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) have the right to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, he said.

He echoed calls for establishment of a Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction, and called on the Zionist regime to sign the NPT.

Pointing to latest developments in the Occupied Territories, the Egyptian president hoped a Palestinian government of national unity would be formed so that the crippling Western economic sanctions that have been imposed on the Hamas-led Palestinian government can be lifted.