Iran president calls nuclear offer 'step forward'
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the international incentive proposal to curtail his nation's nuclear program was a "step forward" that would be carefully considered.
His announcement came a day after Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Islamic regime would not bow to pressure over its atomic program.
Ahmadinejad, attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional security grouping, told journalists his nation would look at the proposal, which offers incentives if Tehran suspends uranium enrichment.
"We regard the offer of a package as a step forward and I have instructed my colleagues to carefully consider it," Ahmadinejad said.
"We will give a response in due time in line with the international interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Uranium enrichment produces nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material. The United States has led international warnings that Iran intends to build a nuclear weapons program.
The incentives package includes the lifting of some US trade sanctions and international support for the "building of new light water reactors in Iran," according to a copy of the proposal shown to AFP.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is only for energy purposes and that it has a right to enrich uranium.
"We are not seeking to develop nuclear weapons," Ahmadinejad reiterated Friday.
He then sought to focus attention on the United States dropping two atomic bombs in Japan at the end of World War II, becoming the first and only nation to use nuclear weapons.
"Pay attention to the fact that Hiroshima is only a few hundred kilometers away," he said, referring to one of the Japanese cities that was bombed.
"We believe that war-minded and selfish nations must correct their behavior if they want to have a place in the future world."
Iran has previously given mixed signals over whether it will accept the incentive offer, made by the United States, China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany to Tehran on June 6.
Ahmadinejad was evasive on whether he had discussed the possibility of UN sanctions while meeting with his Chinese and Russian counterparts in Shanghai.
"I believe the word 'sanction' should be removed from political discourse. Sanctions should not be used as pressure or intimidation against countries of the world," he said.
"In principle we don't accept it, so we never talk about it."
The Shanghai summit had attracted extra attention because of Ahmedinejad's presence, but he said the Iranian nuclear issue had not been on the agenda.
"Of course, there was no need for that to be on the agenda. Some countries make problems for others and they give the impression that these have become problems for the entire international community," he said.
"Let's remember that those who try to make trouble for others will be the first to be in trouble."
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said Thursday the international community's "carrot-and-stick" policy over the Iranian nuclear program was counterproductive.
"Humiliation and the use of language of threat of referring the nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council... have had a serious impact on mutual trust and confidence on parties involved and thus the process of negotiations," he said.
Supreme leader Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, said Thursday his country would not bow to pressure, implicitly rejecting the calls to suspend enrichment.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not bend to these pressures. The continuation of this scientific progress is its fundamental and basic right," Iranian state television quoted Khamenei as saying.
AFP
