Iranian president-elect Hasan Rowhani believes that it is possible to strike a deal that would allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to keep enriching uranium while assuring the West it will not produce a nuclear weapon.
Rowhani also said his government would look for a win-win deal to resolve disputes with the US, following three decades of estrangement between the two nations.
His remarks came in an interview recorded four months ago and rerun on Iranian state television on Friday. The broadcast appeared to be intended to underline his pledge to follow a “path of moderation” and pursue greater openness over Iran’s nuclear program.
Rowhani, Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator, won a landslide victory in the June 14 presidential election. He is set to take office in August, when he will replace Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Although Iran’s president cannot set policy on major decisions such as the nuclear program, he can influence views by the ruling clerics. Rowhani is considered a relative moderate, but also has deep ties to Iran’s Islamic establishment. In his campaign, he said he favors international outreach and efforts to ease sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program.
In the interview, Rowhani suggested that under his presidency, Iran would seek to convince the US and its allies that dialogue — and not sanctions — are the way forward.
“We have always told the West that we are ready for confidence building,” he said.
On the issue of stalled nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers, Rowhani acknowledged that “no practical results were achieved” and stressed that “a deal would represent a practical result.”
The six — the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and — should work with the UN’s nuclear agency, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, to draw up a formula, Rowhani said.
The formula would allow Iran to keep enriching uranium — a process that is a possible path to nuclear warheads — while offering proof that it was not leading to nuclear arms.
For Iran, the goal is to find relief from international sanctions that have wreaked havoc on the country’s economy. The West suspects Iran intends to build nuclear weapons and has imposed several rounds of draconian measures to force Tehran to account for the program.
Iran denies it is seeking to develop atomic weapons and insists that its nuclear ambitions are purely for generating power and medical research.
“We should reach a point where the West feels that continuing the sanctions would not be to their benefit and that there is a better solution,” Rowhani said.
US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders remain publicly committed to diplomatic efforts, though they stress that military options against Iranian nuclear sites are not off the table.
“I don’t believe in war. War is not to our benefits. It’s not to America’s benefits. I don’t think that the Americans are after war at this point,” Rowhani said. “If Americans show sincerity and are ready to resolve the problems between the two countries, a win-win deal is possible.”
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of