TEHRAN // The Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday reiterated his position on not ceding Iran's "inalienable right to nuclear energy" and promised a package of proposals for resolving various challenges facing the international community, during the first press conference of his second term in office. He also said there was no clear indication of a change of attitude from Britain and the US towards Iran, and expressed readiness to have a debate with the US president Barack Obama on various issues.
"The nuclear issue is over from our point of view. We will continue to pursue the [related] matters in close interaction with the International Atomic Energy Agency [but] will never sit down to talk about the Iranian nation's irrevocable right," Mr Ahmadinejad told reporters yesterday. Stressing that Iran only accepts the authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran will co-operate with the agency within the framework of IAEA regulations and will resist any political pressure imposed from outside.
"What we have announced [as the subject of talks] is negotiation and co-operation in two regards: firstly, building opportunities for peaceful use of nuclear energy for all countries and secondly, organising an effective management [system] for preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons and for international nuclear disarmament. Within this framework we are prepared to talk to anyone who is interested," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
Referring to a deadline for nuclear talks with Iran set by some European powers and the US, Mr Ahmadinejad said that setting a deadline was in contradiction to "relations based on [mutual] respect and justice". "There is only a case of enmity of two or three countries against Iran. They are opposing our independence and our progress [but] we don't consider them powerful enough to pose as super powers today. Our participation is for resolving the problems of the world community [and] do not recognise anything such as 'Iran's nuclear issue'," he said.
The president also declared that Iran was prepared to participate in constructive international efforts for resolving various international challenges and promised to offer Iran's package of proposals for such talks within a week. The representatives of the group of world powers, consisting of the permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, known as 5+1, have been invited to Tehran to receive the package of proposals.
More packages, to be offered to other countries, have also been prepared, he said. "A new move and will to reform the affairs of the world should take shape and drawing from our ethical obligations we insist to be a pioneer in this regard," Mr Ahmadinejad told reporters. "We have clear, scholarly and humane solutions for problems in Afghanistan, Iraq, Palestine, the international economic crisis, reforming the undemocratic and exclusivist structure of the United Nations and the UN Security Council that we will propose," he said.
Attacking what is referred to as "enemies" in his rhetoric, the Iranian president targeted the US and Britain by alleging that their claims of having changed their attitude towards Iran were false. The exposure of the two western countries' true intentions, despite claims that their attitude and policies on Iran had changed, was among the victories of the Iranian presidential elections, Mr Ahmadinejad declared.
"It is obvious that there is no clear will for a change of behaviour," he said. The US government adopted the wrong stance regarding the Iranian presidential elections, although they admitted that they had been mistaken, Mr Ahmadinejad claimed. Nonetheless, he said he was prepared to debate the US president about various subjects, including international issues, in the presence of media representatives.
Promising a more active foreign policy, Mr Ahmadinejad said he planned to address the UN General Assembly in New York at the end of the month, to meet with the American people, talk to various media and participate in the meetings of various social, political and international groups. Some opposition groups have called for organising protests against the Iranian president in New York for what they consider as election fraud.
In his press conference, Mr Ahmadinejad once again declared the June 12th elections which gave him a second term in office as "the cleanest" and claimed that his votes had increased in the partial vote recount. "Those who masterminded [the riots] and by remaining silent and not reacting [to the enemy] accepted their support should be held to account," he demanded while saying those who had been "deceived" should be treated with "Islamic clemency".
msinaiee@thenational.ae