Tehran, September 19: Iran is willing to hold talks with the international community on its contentious nuclear programme if it is “based on principles of justice and respect” and “within the legal framework”, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today.
Ahmadinejad also blamed the US for pressing the global nuclear watchdog to take political position on the nuclear row, which was making the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “worthless and ineffective”.
“We have a plan to discuss things, to discuss issues. We’ve always been ready to discuss issues as long as they’re within the legal framework and based on principles of justice and respect,” he told the ABC news in an interview.
The last high-level meeting between Iran and the six world powers was held in Geneva in October 2009 when the two sides agreed a nuclear fuel swap deal that has since stalled.
The Iranian leader said its nuclear activities “are being controlled by cameras”. “Material that is moved is weighed, it’s examined and controlled. So as far as the IAEA supervision is concern, there’s no blockage of that supervision,” he said.
He blamed the IAEA for released its “nuclear information”, describing it as “illegal”.
“The IAEA is required by a statute to protect that information, not to release it. And plus, the IAEA is aware of several other violations that they have permitted,” Ahmadinejad said after arriving in New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
“We believe that here the United States is pressing the IAEA to take a political position on the issue. Once the IAEA does that, its worth becomes worthless and ineffective,” Ahmadinejad warned.
When asked about the recent statement by former Iranian President Rafsanjani, who urged him not to take the sanctions as a joke, Ahmadinejad said, “In Iran, people are free to make statements, say what they think. There are no restrictions on what people say.”
“We do take sanctions seriously, but taking it seriously is different from believing that they are effective. These are two different issues,” he noted.
“We consider this and have recorded it as a serious violation of international law. It was illegal. It was wrong. It wronged the people of Iran by insulting them, and these sanctions will definitively mark a new level of progress in our economy,” Ahmadinejad asserted, adding “We have turned sanctions around and created opportunities out of this.”
–Agencies