West-Iran talks entail policy change
Senior members of the Iran’s Parliament (Majlis) have demanded a major policy change towards Tehran by the US and other Western powers as a precondition for any talks with Iran.
“Iran will only hold talks with the US provided that Washington respects Iran’s rights and stops its [deliberate] efforts to impede the Islamic Republic’s nuclear,” said Muhammad Karami-Rad, member of the Majlis Committee on National Security and Foreign Policy.
He added that Iran would insist on its position and the rights of its nation in future talks with the P5+1 (Russia, China, Britain, France, the US and Germany), Majlis news agency (ICANA) reported.
The Iranian legislator blasted recent unfounded claims publicized by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) against Tehran’s civilian nuclear program and emphasized that accusations of Iran’s secret efforts to pursue a military diversion is merely based on fictitious documents provided by a notorious Iranian terrorist group.
He then emphasized that IAEA’s efforts to formally making accusations against Iran based on such unreliable reporting is reflective of the fact that the agency has turned into “a Zionist lobby.”
In his latest confidential nine-page report, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano claimed last Tuesday that the agency has received new unspecific information indicating that Iran may not be merely developing nuclear energy for civilian purposes.
The report again repeated what it commonly refers to as an overall assessment, claiming that the UN nuclear body cannot maintain that all nuclear items of Iran are peaceful.
The report was circulated to IAEA member states ahead of a meeting of the Board of Governors next month.
Another member of the committee, Mahmoud Ahmadi Bighash, denounced the double-standard policy of the US and its allies with respect to Iran’s nuclear program and reiterated that their offer of talks while sticking to a policy of threat and sanctions has been proven ineffective.
He insisted that in dealing with Iran and its nuclear program, Western powers need to give up their middle-ages-type approach of resorting to threats and sanctions to intimidate others to accept their views and then expect to engage in talks.
He added that Iran has proved its goodwill to the world on numerous occasions and reiterated that the Islamic Republic has no covert nuclear activities.
Ahmadi Bighash also emphasized that Iran is ready to hold talks with P5+1 and the US in an even-handed setting that would be considerate of the Islamic Republic’s interests.
Iran has repeatedly and vehemently rejected unverified Western allegations that it is pursuing a military nuclear program, insisting that as a member of the IAEA and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, it has every right to engage in nuclear activities for all peaceful purposes.
The IAEA has been regularly conducting rigorous inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence of Iran’s diversion from a civilian nuclear program.
Source: presstv.ir
