Ali-Akbar Salehi: The Iranian President is said to be willing to “provide comprehensive measures that would prevent a potential recurrence of dangerous situations.”
“Iran’s nuclear development process had never reached the point where it could be said to be weaponizing the nation’s nuclear energy program.” “Never.” That would be a conciliatory statement by the supreme leader of Iran.But Iran’s Foreign Minister responded by saying that the Supreme Leader of Iran has nothing to do with the nuclear issue.“In the past, I have to say he has done a lot of things and many remarks that were so meaningless that they were beyond anything. On one day he says one thing and on the next he says something completely different.” Salehi further told French newspaper Le Figaro, “Iran’s nuclear development process had never reached the point where it could be said to be weaponizing the nation’s nuclear energy program.”The comments by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres leave little room for interpretation: President Rouhani is willing to provide the U.N. nuclear watchdog with an expansive proposal to potentially lift the crippling sanctions imposed on Iran to pave the way for the phased lifting of nuclear-related restrictions. Rouhani’s willingness to provide broader responses to the U.N.’s September 2015 decision to impose harsh and never-before-used sanctions on Iran is further sign that Rouhani’s Tehran is serious about having nuclear activities based on peaceful goals.Guterres is set to hold a meeting of Iran’s highest security body later this week to negotiate how to respond to the progress Iran has made over the past two years and to address challenges posed by conflicts in Syria and Yemen.Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told Le Figaro in the June 26th interview that Iran believes it is able to guarantee maximum nuclear transparency and to demonstrate technological progress that would earn the world’s six nuclear powers international confidence.“We have not finished a process. No one has stopped us. In fact, no one has been fooled.”