Iranian president promises nuclear initiative
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2005-08-25 14:31

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday refreshed his promises about a new initiative over the current nuclear standoff as the conservative-dominated Majlis (parliament) approved most members of his proposed cabinet.

Iran would offer an initiative to solve the nuclear standoff with Europe, Ahmadinejad told the Majlis at the end of its four-day session,which was convened for debating and voting on the nominated cabinet members.

"The Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) will offer an initiative on the (nuclear) fuel cycle standoff and will make it known to the public," Ahmadinejad said.

The president's announcement echoed what he told UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on August 9 in a telephone conversation.

"We are ready to proceed with the nuclear talks. Of course, I will put forward initiatives in this respect after forming my cabinet," he said.

Ahmadinejad has not disclosed anything so far on the so-called initiatives.

Earlier in the day, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi blamed the escalating nuclear standoff on the European Union (EU), the longtime broker of the Iranian nuclear issue since 2003.

He stressed that it was Europe, not Iran, which breached the Paris Agreement reached by the two sides in October 2004, which serves as the footstone of the bilateral nuclear negotiations.

"The Europeans interpreted and violated the Paris Agreement unilaterally," Asefi said, adding that the EU had ignored Iran's legal rights on peaceful nuclear energy and refrained from providing Iran with firm guarantees of such rights.

The fundamental discrepancy between the two sides lies in Tehran's firm fixedness and Europe's insistent disallowance over Iran's program to construct nuclear reactors, especially work uranium enrichment activities, which Iran suspended in November 2004 according to the Paris Agreement.

The European trio had successfully persuaded Iran's previous reformist government led by President Mohammad Khatami to suspend all of its sensitive nuclear activities before Ahmadinejad, a well-know conservative, came into power in early August.

Iran resumed uranium conversion activities, a preparatory step for the enrichment, on August 8 and harshly rejected a nuclear proposal presented by Britain, France and Germany, the European trio negotiating with Tehran on behalf on the EU.

However, Tehran has stressed repeatedly that the resumption had nothing to do with the new government and it was a long-brooded decision made collectively by all leaders of the Islamic Republic.

Tehran's defiant move has drawn stern warnings from the EU and the United States. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has also adopted a resolution to urge Iran to re-establish full suspension of all enrichment-related activities.

Nevertheless, top officials of the Islamic Republic have unanimously posed a tough stance, saying the disputes on the country's uranium conversion activities have been concluded and Iran is ready to talk with the EU on the restarting of uranium enrichment.

With the approval of the Majlis on Wednesday, Manuchehr Mottaki, foreign minister of the new cabinet, will feature Iran's nuclear diplomacy in the coming four years, along with Ali Larijani, another ultra-conservative appointed as secretary of the SNSC and chief nuclear negotiator on August 15.

Mottaki said recently that he would seek to promote "balanced ties with various countries" and publicly announce the latest developments in Iran's nuclear dossier as soon as he assumed office.

Larijani also declared one day after his appointment that Iran would "never give up its plans to develop a full nuclear fuel cycle" but was willing to continue talks with the EU.

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