TEHRAN – After a final deal is clinched between Iran and 5+1 group of major world powers, Iran will turn into a major nuclear power in the world, the former IAEA deputy chief says.

Olli Heinonen, who had inspected Iran’s nuclear facilities for many times in the past, said on Sunday that IAEA inspectors have inspected Iran’s nuclear facilities for years and many times.

“I believe that Iran that has held nuclear talks with the U.S. and its allies, can turn into a major nuclear power in the world,” he said.

Heinonen made the comments while delivering a speech in a seminar on “Opportunities and Threats under Geopolitical Changes in the Region” in Kuwait, where a number of experts along with IAEA officials also took part.

On the Lausanne statement, the former IAEA official said the U.S. and its allies have recognized Iran’s rights to enrichment of uranium and the country’s nuclear fuel cycle will be kept.

Heinonen, now a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, says Iran, with reliance on its management and resistance against economic sanctions, can preserve its nuclear capabilities and as a signatory to the NPT can make use of peaceful nuclear energy.

MD/P