Threats in nuclear talks will not work: Iran

TEHRAN – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday said threats would not work in solving a dispute over the country’s nuclear programme but Iran was ready to clear up misunderstandings with the world.

Ahmadinejad’s televised speech was his first public comment since proposals backed by six world powers with the aim of defusing the nuclear standoff were presented to Iran this week. The package includes incentives to encourage Iran to give up uranium enrichment, a process the West says Iran is using to make atomic bombs.But it also contains penalties if Iran, which insists its aims are peaceful, rejects the offer.”Negotiations should take place in a fair atmosphere,” Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech to a rally in Qazvin, a city west of the capital Tehran.”If they (the international community) think they can threaten and hang a stick over the head of the Iranian nation and negotiate at the same time, they should know the Iranian nation will reject such an atmosphere,” he said.When Iran was handed the proposals by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said it contained some positive points but also what he described as ambiguities that should be removed.But he said he expected negotiations on the package.Officials from the United States and Germany, two countries that back the package, said if Iran suspends enrichment the major powers would discuss other terms in the offer.The plan’s other backers are Britain, France, China and Russia.”The Iranian nation will never negotiate about its certain rights with anybody,” Ahmadinejad said without specifying what those rights were.Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have previously insisted Iran would not abandon uranium enrichment, the core demand, because they say it is a national right.But officials have hinted Iran might discuss the scope of enrichment plans.Under Iran’s system of clerical rule, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and not the president, has the final say in all matters of state.Washington said Iran must suspend enrichment work during any talks but Western diplomats said the package would allow Iran to eventually resume such work after strict conditions were met.Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, has been hauled before the UN Security Council for failing to convince the world that its atomic aims are only to produce electricity.”We will talk about mutual concerns and solving misunderstandings in the international arena,” Ahmadinejad said, without specifically mentioning the West’s nuclear concerns.- Nampa-ReutersThe package includes incentives to encourage Iran to give up uranium enrichment, a process the West says Iran is using to make atomic bombs.But it also contains penalties if Iran, which insists its aims are peaceful, rejects the offer.”Negotiations should take place in a fair atmosphere,” Ahmadinejad said in a televised speech to a rally in Qazvin, a city west of the capital Tehran.”If they (the international community) think they can threaten and hang a stick over the head of the Iranian nation and negotiate at the same time, they should know the Iranian nation will reject such an atmosphere,” he said.When Iran was handed the proposals by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said it contained some positive points but also what he described as ambiguities that should be removed.But he said he expected negotiations on the package.Officials from the United States and Germany, two countries that back the package, said if Iran suspends enrichment the major powers would discuss other terms in the offer.The plan’s other backers are Britain, France, China and Russia.”The Iranian nation will never negotiate about its certain rights with anybody,” Ahmadinejad said without specifying what those rights were.Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have previously insisted Iran would not abandon uranium enrichment, the core demand, because they say it is a national right.But officials have hinted Iran might discuss the scope of enrichment plans.Under Iran’s system of clerical rule, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and not the president, has the final say in all matters of state.Washington said Iran must suspend enrichment work during any talks but Western diplomats said the package would allow Iran to eventually resume such work after strict conditions were met.Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil exporter, has been hauled before the UN Security Council for failing to convince the world that its atomic aims are only to produce electricity.”We will talk about mutual concerns and solving misunderstandings in the international arena,” Ahmadinejad said, without specifically mentioning the West’s nuclear concerns.- Nampa-Reuters