Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani says the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program can be easily settled if the world powers involved in nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic have “political resolve.”
President Rouhani made the remark in an exclusive interview with the American TV channel, NBC, on Wednesday, IRNA reported Friday.
During the interview, the Iranian president pointed to Iran’s negotiations with the permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany and his own experience as Iran’s nuclear negotiator from October 2003 to August 2005.
“I have enough experience in foreign negotiations, including nuclear talks, and based on that experience, I am saying that we merely want one thing from the other side, namely the P5+1, and that is political resolve. If there is political resolve, the issue can be settled very easily,” Rouhani said.
“We only want our activities, our nuclear activities, to be peaceful and we have accepted international supervision over our activities,” he pointed out.
The Iranian chief executive rejected the US and Israel’s baseless allegations that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, saying, “We are against nuclear bombs, because our religion and our morality tell us that weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms, are inhumane and dangerous for humanity.”
“We have never pursued and will never pursue nuclear weapons. We solely seek peaceful nuclear technologies and, therefore in this respect, we want the entire world to know that nuclear weapons do not and will not have any place in our doctrine,” the Iranian president noted.
Rouhani’s interview with one of the most-watched US media outlets came ahead of his New York trip to take part in the annual session of the United Nations General Assembly.
The US and European Union have used the allegation against Iran’s nuclear energy program as an excuse to impose illegal sanctions against Tehran.
Iran has categorically rejected the allegation that its atomic activities may have non-civilian aspirations, stressing that as a committed member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty it is entitled to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
In addition, the IAEA has conducted numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities but has never found any evidence showing that the Iranian nuclear program has been diverted toward military objectives.
By Press TV
The Iran Project is not responsible for the content of quoted articles.