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Iran’s plea for trust in nuclear talks

In the upcoming talks, we hope that all sides will return to the negotiating table as equals with mutual respect; that all sides will be committed to comprehensive, long-term dialogue aimed at resolving all parties’ outstanding concerns; and, most important, that all sides make genuine efforts to reestablish confidence and trust.

Iran: We do not want nuclear weapons Washington Post, By Ali Akbar Salehi,  April 12 Ali Akbar Salehi is foreign minister of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Forty-five years ago, the United States sold my country a research reactor as well as weapons-grade uranium as its fuel. Not long afterward, America agreed to help Iran set up the full nuclear fuel cycle along with atomic power plants. The U.S. argument was that nuclear power would provide for the growing needs of our economy and free our remaining oil reserves for export or conversion to petrochemicals.

That rationale has not changed. Still, after the Islamic Revolution in our country in 1979, all
understandings with the United States in the nuclear field unraveled.
Washington even cut off fuel deliveries to the very facility it
supplied. To secure fuel from other sources, Iran was forced to modify
the reactor to run on uranium enriched to around 20 percent. The
Tehran Research Reactor still operates, supplying isotopes used in the
medical treatment of 800,000 of my fellow Iranians every year.

But getting to this point was not easy…….
All relationships — whether between parents and children, spouses or
even nation-states — are based on trust. The example of the Tehran
Research Reactor vividly illustrates the key issue between Iran and
the United States: lack of trust.

We have strongly marked our opposition to weapons of mass destruction
on many occasions. Almost seven years ago, Iranian Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made a binding commitment. He issued a
religious edict — a fatwa — forbidding the production, stockpiling and
use of nuclear weapons. Our stance against weapons of mass
destruction, which is far from new, has been put to the test. When
Saddam Hussein attacked us with chemical arms in the 1980s, we did not
retaliate with the same means. And when it comes to our nuclear energy
program, the IAEA has failed to find any military dimension, despite
an unprecedented number of man-hours in intrusive inspections.

Being sovereign and independent does not mean that there is no room
for dialogue or diplomacy. It means that one enters any debate as an
equal, based on mutual respect and justice. To reestablish trust, all
sides must assume an honest approach with a view toward moving past
the barriers to sincere dialogue…..
In the upcoming talks, we hope that all sides will return to the negotiating table as equals with mutual respect; that all sides will be committed to comprehensive, long-term dialogue aimed at resolving all parties’ outstanding concerns; and, most important, that all sides
make genuine efforts to reestablish confidence and trust.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/iran-we-do-not-want-nuclear-weapons/2012/04/12/gIQAjMNnDT_story.html

April 13, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Iran, politics international