Powerful former Iranian President Akbar Rafsanjani today said Tehran must receive international assistance for its civilian nuclear program in exchange for increased Iranian cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (see GSN, Oct. 2).

Speaking during weekly Friday prayers, Rafsanjani laid out four conditions — including nuclear assistance — that must be met before Iran signs the Additional Protocol to its IAEA safeguards agreement and allows more intrusive international monitoring of its nuclear activities.

“The conditions we would impose for signing the protocol are the same as those imposed by the United States,” Rafsanjani said.  Tehran will insist, he said, “that our national security not be endangered, that our (Islamic) values and our sacred sites not be affected, that (military) secrets unconnected with the nuclear program not be revealed and that others fulfill their duty” to assist with Iran’s civilian nuclear plant development (Agence France-Presse, Oct. 3).

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, meanwhile, said that Iran would cooperate with the IAEA.  The U.N. agency recently imposed an Oct. 31 deadline for Iran to prove it is not developing nuclear weapons.

“Tehran will continue its cooperation with the agency although the International Atomic Energy Agency issued an inappropriate resolution because Iran doesn’t have any worries regarding the transparency of its peaceful nuclear program,” Khatami said yesterday.  “Nuclear weapons will not be a source of security for us,” he added (Parisa Hafezi, Reuters, Oct. 3).

Iranian nuclear officials began meetings recently with senior IAEA representatives in Tehran (Agence France-Presse/Yahoo!News, Oct. 3).

About Newswire  |  Contact National Journal  |  Re-Use Guidelines

HOME  |  CONTACT US  |  GET INVOLVED  |  SITE MAP

Back to top