Index

Friday, November 2, 2007

[wvns] Iran rejects talks with USA

Ahmadi-Nejad: Iran not interested in talks with USA
10/30/2007
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/071030/2007103038.html


Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad said today that Iran is not at
all interested in talks with Washington and Iran does not have any
need for the US.

"If conditions are to be set for the talks, it is the Iranian nation
that should do so and you, who are the law-breakers and bullies,
cannot dictate terms for dialogue with the Iranian nation," said
Ahmadi-Nejad in an address to a group of students on Tuesday. He made
the remark in reaction to the US President George W. Bush's claim that
Washington would be ready for talks with Iranians if they give up
nuclear energy.

He said under fair and equal conditions, Iran is for dialogue and
talks. "The nation would not however negotiate its legal and absolute
rights. The corrupt and bullying powers, which are against the
independence of the Iranian nation are creating obstacles for the
advancement of the nation. Enemies had several years ago launched
extensive efforts including spreading lies, rumors, and deception,
waging psychological war, terror and intimidation to deprive the
Iranian nation of its legal and absolute rights in using nuclear
energy for peaceful purposes." The president said they first presented
some suggestions under the pretext of confidence-building but these
proposals gave way to demands that Iranian nation's nuclear and even
scientific activities should be stopped.

America's recent unilateral sanctions against Iran over its peaceful
nuclear activities are "hollow," he said, adding "The recent US
decision (against Iran) has made it clear that the Americans are not
even able to harm us unilaterally." President Ahmadi-Nejad said that
enemies of Iranian nation are arrogant in spirit. "While fully
acknowledging in private sessions Iranian nation's (absolute) rights,
they bargain them in direct talks so as to take advantage. We should
be vigilant against such mischiefs," said Ahmadi-Nejad.

He said that Iranian nation want the realization of their complete
nuclear rights and enemies should know that the people and leadership
are insisting on this and would not give up the rights even one iota.

"You should not get angry over the achievements of the Iranian nation
because our youth are firm to conquer all peaks of honor. Wise Iranian
youth score more success in different fields day by day and you will
die of your anger if you frown on the successes," said the president.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Ahmadi-Nejad said, "In our opinion, nuclear
issue with the concept of creating necessary political atmosphere is
closed and is proceeding on its proper course in the IAEA."

===

Mottaki: Iran nuclear rights not to be trampled upon
10/23/2007
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/071023/2007102322.html


Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki yesterday sent a letter to
his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner to declare that Iran is
accountable to international system and it never lets its legitimate
rights be trampled upon.

In his letter, Mottaki underlined that Iran is to show good-will when
it sees the same from the other side. He added that imposing
unilateral sanctions against Iran would bear no fruits. It is about
three decades that Iran has faced sanctions mostly by the Americans or
even some unofficial sanctions imposed by the Europeans, he said.

"The country's 29 years of experience indicates that imposing such
sanctions only encourages us to attain self-sufficiency and make
scientific and technological progress," he said. "Threat of sanctions
is regarded as a reason for us to achieve self-sufficiency," he said.

"You should take this fact into consideration that Iran's great
achievements in nuclear field were made due to Washington's one-sided
sanctions along with undeclared sanctions imposed by the European
countries," Mottaki said in the letter.

Pressure being exerted by France to toughen more one-sided sanctions
against Iran and persuade the European Union to support the move, is
continuation of their failed policies in the past, Mottaki said.
Imposing one-sided sanctions against countries is regarded as an
illegal move which runs counter to UN Charter and is indicative of the
incompetency of the UN Security Council, Mottaki said.

Imposing one-sided sanctions is in total contradiction with their
claims of pursuing diplomatic solutions, he said, adding "You cannot
talk about dialogue while following the path of pressure and threats,"
Mottaki said.

Mottaki said that the US and a number of those countries possessing
nuclear weapons have not remained committed to
non-proliferation of nuclear weapons while they introduce themselves
as grantors of such treaties in order to divert world public opinion
from their nuclear depots.

The foreign minister said those who try to persuade the UNSC to impose
more unjust sanctions on Iran, prevent the same from being applied to
Israel. "Fortunately, as the history shows, these few countries cannot
affect wills of nations particularly those in the Middle East region,"
he said.

Iran has adopted very crystal clear stance in safeguarding its
legitimate rights, he underlined. Mottaki said, "We believe that
confidence-building should be reciprocal but we have not seen the
other side do the same at least to the same extent that we have done,"
he said.

"Imposing more economic sanctions or other threats will not discourage
our nation to quit their path," he said.

He said, "Once again I would like to express my regret over adoption
of a double-standard policy by some western countries in dealing with
Iran and it is regrettable that these countries are resorting to any
means to impose their one-sided views." "Let's believe that in the
third millennium, the era of unilateralism is over," Mottaki underlined.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini said Sunday
that since Ali Larijani's meeting with Javier Solana was already
fixed, this round of negotiations will be attended by both Jalili and
Larijani.

He made the remark in response to a question on reasons for the visit
to Rome of both Larijani and Jalili to meet the European Union foreign
policy chief, Javier Solana.

Earlier in the day, Hosseini had told reporters that Larijani would
accompany the new chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in his
Tuesday meeting with Solana.

Negotiations between Iran and International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) are underway in Tehran on P1 and P2 centrifuges, Hosseini said
on Sunday.

He told reporters that negotiations began on Saturday and will proceed
until Monday. IAEA experts arrived in Tehran on Friday. The
negotiations are being held at Atomic Energy Organization of Iran
(AEOI) in the context of an agreement signed by Iran and the agency on
August 21. The two parties will hold talks in late October to resolve
the outstanding issues concerning Iranian nuclear program. The outcome
of the negotiations will appear in IAEA Director General Mohamed
ElBaradei's report in November. According to a timetable agreed upon
by Iran and the agency, the two parties have focused on resolving six
remaining issues about Iranian nuclear program including P1 and P2
centrifuges, contamination sources, document on metal uranium,
polonium 210 and Gachin mine.

The agency closed the file of plutonium last month. The timetable has
envisaged closure of the file of the remaining issues until the end of
October.

US Vice President Dick Cheney two days ago said "we have the
inescapable reality of Iran's nuclear program; a program they claim is
strictly for energy purposes, but which they have worked hard to
conceal; a program carried out in complete defiance of the
international community and resolutions of the UN Security Council.

Iran is pursuing technology that could be used to develop nuclear
weapons. The world knows this. The Security Council has twice imposed
sanctions on Iran and called on the regime to cease enriching uranium.
Yet the regime continues to do so, and continues to practice delay and
deception in an obvious attempt to buy time.

Given the nature of Iran's rulers, the declarations of the Iranian
President, and the trouble the regime is causing throughout the region
-- including direct involvement in the killing of Americans -- our
country and the entire international community cannot stand by as a
terror-supporting state fulfills its most aggressive ambitions."

He added "The Iranian regime needs to know that if it stays on its
present course, the international community is prepared to impose
serious consequences. The United States joins other nations in sending
a clear message: We will not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. The
irresponsible conduct of the ruling elite in Tehran is a tragedy for
all Iranians. The regime has passed up numerous opportunities to be a
positive force in the Middle East. For more than a generation, it had
only isolated a great nation, suppressed a great people, and subjected
them to economic hardship that gets worse every year."

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad on Sunday appointed Saeed Jalili
as Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and to lead
the nuclear negotiations. The appointment was made after the president
accepted resignation of former SNSC secretary Ali Larijani on Saturday.

Asked about this new appointment and its impact US Department Of State
Spokesman Sean McCormack said yesterday " We'll see. I don't know if
it will make any difference in the Iranian Government's reaction to
the generous offer that's been put before it. We'll see. We still
support Mr. Solana in his efforts to talk to the Iranians and try to
convince them that they should meet the demands of the international
community. There is a very attractive offer that is on the table for
the Iranians and it really addresses, we think, one of their stated
core concerns, and that is having access to civilian nuclear power.
And we are prepared to talk about that as well as any other issue
within the context of the P-5+1 if they just meet the demands that
have been laid out for them by the Security Council. I can't tell you
if this -- the appointment of this individual is going to make any
difference in either the tone or the substance of the response. We'll
see. Our insight to the decision-making processes of the Iranian
Government is pretty limited, so I can't tell you what this portends
for their position when they get together with Mr. Solana."

McCormack was asked about the letter that Mottaki sent to the French
Foreign Minister. He replied "I suppose if he's taking a position --
issue with the position of the French Government, he's taking issue
with the position of most of the rest of the world. And the Security
Council and the IAEA Board of Governors have bent over backwards to
try to accommodate stated Iranian interests, yet they continue to
delay, obfuscate and defy the international community. And there are
consequences for their continuing defiance of the international
community. And I expect that that will take the form, at least in the
Security Council, of additional sanctions. It's not our preferred
course of action. We wish it -- that it were different. But that is
not the case."

McCormack was also asked "what do you make of ElBaradei's recent
comments that he's predicting three to eight years before Iran could
acquire the bomb?" to which he replied "There are a variety of
different estimates in terms of where Iran is in their progress
towards developing a nuclear weapon. I think our intelligence
community has their own assessments." Previous US intelligence
estimates put Iran's development of a nuclear devise, assuming the
Iranians are trying to do so, as needing about 10 years.

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini on Sunday
advised parties to nuclear talks not to misinterpret Ali Larijani's
resignation. Talking to foreign and domestic reporters, Hosseini said,
"The nuclear issue is a national issue toward which all walks of
Iranian people are sensitive and believe it should be continued. The
Iranian people consider the nuclear issue as the country's urgent,
vital and essential need which should be pursued through logic,
prudence and making use of legal methods so that to secure the
country's national interest."

Meanwhile, Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said Saturday
that Larijani resigned for personal reasons and that it does not mean
that the policies consistent with nuclear talks would change. "It is
not important what form the work will have or who the negotiator will
be, the main point is that anyone who negotiates, is representative of
the system and everything proceeds with in the specified direction,"
Elham noted.

Hosseini on Sunday announced that no change will be made in approaches
and objectives of Iran's peaceful nuclear program. He said, "There is
full solidarity between officials and the nation inside and outside
the country in the area of objectives of Iran's peaceful nuclear
activities and the activities will continue with full capacity."

===

Rafsanjani: Suspension of nuclear activities unacceptable
10/16/2007
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/071016/2007101608.html


Iran's Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said today
that the suspension of peaceful nuclear activities by Iran is an
unacceptable condition for nuclear talks.

Rafsanjani made the remark in a meeting with Chinese Ambassador to
Tehran Liu Zhentang, adding that the Islamic Revolution and
independence-seeking nation of Iran are opposed to giving in to hegemony.

He added that Iran is ready to build confidence and resolve
outstanding issues concerning its peaceful nuclear program based on
international regulations. Rafsanjani, also head of Assembly of
Experts, said that given close relations between Iran and China and
their close stance, Iran expects China to support its indisputable
nuclear rights.

Rafsanjani referred to China as a successful country in terms of
economic, technical and trade development, noting that China has
acquired appropriate status in today's world, and that Iran will try
to maintain its high level relations with China.

Liu Zhentang, for his part, reaffirmed Iran's right to make use of
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, underlining the need for
resolving the current dispute via diplomatic channels. He noted that
the world should put moderation and peace-seeking atop its agenda.

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia's President Vladimir
Putin failed to bridge their differences on Iran's nuclear program.
While in Germany, Putin met the German leader who had tried its utmost
to provide a positive outlook on German-Russian ties, calling for
"close" bilateral cooperation, while the Russian president had no
qualms to speak against some of Merkel's viewpoints on some of the
world's crisis hotspots.

Reacting to Merkel's tough talk in Monday's German press on tightening
Iran sanctions, Putin made clear that creating "fear and intimidation
within Iran's leadership and the Iranian nation" was nothing more but
a "futile" attempt by the West.

"To intimidate someone or to create fear within Iran's leadership and
the Iranian nation is absolutely futile. Believe me, they (Iranians)
have no fear," said Putin during a joint press briefing with Merkel.

The Russian leader urged "patience" for a diplomatic and peaceful
settlement of the Iranian nuclear row. He stressed that such a
resolution of Iran's nuclear conflict can be achieved through
"dialogue with Iranian leadership and the Iranian nation."
Berlin has repeatedly threatened to impose additional sanctions, if
Tehran does not halt its uranium enrichment program.

The US Department Of State deputy spokesman Tom Casey said today when
asked by reporters about "Putin in Iran where essentially one of the
comments he made was that we should reject the whole idea of the use
of force in the region. He's sort of implying Iran and don't even
mention the idea of force as a possibility, sort of in a veiled, you
know, reference to the U.S. How would you respond to that?" that "you
can ask him what he was referring to or who he was referring to .. but
again, I think the President's made clear and US policy's been
consistent that we're pursuing a diplomatic path, with respect to
Iran. We're working with our Security Council members in New York and
elsewhere to try and come up with a text of a new resolution that will
ratchet up sanctions on Iran. We have, of course, engaged in our own
bilateral measures to deal with the threat posed there. The European
Union and other individual members of that organization have taken
some steps to, again, increase pressure on Iran."

Casey added "and let's remember what the goal here is, too. The goal
here is to change Iranian behavior, to have them come to the
negotiating table and engage with the United States as well as with
the other members of the P-5+1 to resolve this issue. And the Iranian
Government and the Iranian people can achieve everything that
President Ahmadi-Nejad has stated as his objectives for this program,
which is a peaceful civilian nuclear energy program, one that allows
the Iranian people to have nuclear power but that also provides all of
us in the international community with the assurance that Iran is not
using that civilian nuclear program as a cover to develop a nuclear
weapon. And I think it's pretty clear from the repeated unanimous
votes of the Security Council that have included Russia that this is
an issue that is of grave concern to people, and it's unfortunate that
the Iranian Government has repeatedly chosen to deny the requirements
of it under international law and to move forward with this path of
defiance. We would very much like to have the opportunity to have Iran
comply with these resolutions, halt their uranium enrichment programs,
and then sit down with us and others and negotiate a reasonable
resolution of this issue. It's surprising in many ways that if Iran
really wanted to have a better relationship, if President Ahmadi-Nejad
really wanted to have a better relationship with the international
community, this is a tremendous opportunity that the P-5+1 has put on
the table for him, and it's kind of hard to fathom if your goal really
is simply to have a civilian peaceful nuclear program, why that offer
has not been accepted to date."

Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday that Washington tries to
create a wall of mistrust among countries located in the region.
Mohammad-Ali Hosseini commented on the US attitude toward Iran on the
threshold of the imminent visit to Iran of the Russian President
Vladimir Putin.

Iran-Russia bilateral cooperation is based on international rules and
regulations, he noted.

On Iran-IAEA technical talks on centrifuges, Hosseini said the
technical talks between Iran and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) officials on the centrifuges will begin in the next few
days. He said the talks will be probably held in Tehran.

On recent remarks made by the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
against Iran, Hosseini said making such remarks by US officials is not
a new phenomenon.

Hosseini added that any plan implying Iran's right to enrichment will
be taken into consideration by Iran.

On Swiss proposal regarding Iran's nuclear case, he said Tehran has
held continuous talks with the Swiss side and the plan has been taken
into consideration by Iran.

Talking to reporters, he made the remarks on Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali
Haddad-Adel's Friday remarks on the Swiss proposal. On certain
European states' request for enrichment suspension, he stressed that
no change has been made in Iran's stands regarding the enrichment issue.

"Tehran's stand is against suspension and is for continuation of
peaceful activities under the supervision of the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA)," he reiterated. "If the objective of the US and
certain European states, by issuing anti-Iran resolutions, is to
deprive Iran of its rights, it will not be materialized," Hosseini stated.

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