Iran’s top nuclear negotiator offered an opening on Tuesday for possible compromise with the West, saying the Islamic regime is ready to hold talks with world powers over its nuclear program.
But Iranian lawmakers also sent a message of defiance to the world community — displaying strong support for Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s nominee for defense minister, even though he is wanted by Argentina for the bombing of a Jewish community center in 1994 that killed 85 people.
Some parliament members cried “Death to Israel” as the prospective defense minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, addressed the chamber on the eve of a vote for all of Ahmadinejad’s selections for his 21-seat Cabinet.
The embattled president faces another key test in yesterday’s expected vote. Many lawmakers — including some former conservative allies — have questioned the caliber of his picks for the government posts, which include the first women named for possible Cabinet seats since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The rejection of several prominent nominees by the parliament would be another setback for Ahmadinejad, who has faced increasing political isolation for his unwavering support of the hardline crackdown on protesters after his disputed June 12 election.
Many lawmakers have contended that some of Ahmadinejad’s selections for Cabinet posts lack experience or are political cronies.
Beyond the struggle over his government, Ahmadinejad faces a month full of pivotal moments — that his annual trip to the UN General Assembly later this month and the deadline set by US President Barack Obama for Iran to begin talks this month on its nuclear ambitions.
Iran’s main nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, told reporters his country would present a new “package of proposals” and would open talks “in order to ease common concerns in the international arena.”
His comments came a day before a meeting outside Frankfurt, Germany, of the six countries trying to address concerns about Iran’s nuclear program — the US, France, the UK, Russia, China and Germany.
The six countries have also been discussing the possibility of holding a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, said UN diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.
Meanwhile, Mohamed ElBaradei, the outgoing head of the UN atomic watchdog, called the threat from Iran “hyped” and said there was no evidence that the Islamic republic would soon have nuclear weapons.
In an interview released on Tuesday, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) hit back at critics who accuse the Egyptian of covering up Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“In many ways, I think the threat has been hyped,” ElBaradei told the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, a Chicago-based magazine critical of nuclear weapons.
“Yes, there’s concern about Iran’s future intentions and Iran needs to be more transparent with the IAEA and international community,” he said.
“But the idea that we’ll wake up tomorrow and Iran will have a nuclear weapon is an idea that isn’t supported by the facts as we have seen them so far,” he said.
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