Iran not to pursue production of nuclear bomb
IRNA – Enriching uranium up to 20 percent is Iran’s legal right and it is not for production of nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Wednesday in an interview with France 24 television.
Iranian president reiterated Iran's "legal right" to enrich uranium to 20 percent and said other countries would have to explain why Iran was not allowed to do this and what they would offer Iran in exchange if it stopped enriching uranium.
Asked if Tehran would accept an offer under which other countries would enrich its uranium if it suspended its nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said he was open to it.
"That offer has not been made, but it would ease the situation and would help build trust," he said.
Iran’s president added that he did not expect talks next month with six world powers in Moscow on Iran's nuclear program to yield any major breakthroughs.
"We are not expecting miracles at the next meeting," Ahmadinejad said.
"There will be areas of work that will go in the right direction and we will work towards them so that we would reach a constructive accord."
He said that Tehran had "good proposals" to make, but that it would only announce them when the time was right, and both sides had to work hand in hand to restore confidence.
Ahmadinejad also condemned the killing of 108 people, many of them children, in the Syrian town of Houla last week, saying those who had committed the crime should be punished. "All those who carried out these murders are guilty and I hope the people responsible would be punished," he said.
Ahmadinejad also said that the West and certain Arab countries were interfering in Syria and were sending weapons to help bring down the government.
"We cannot trust these people because their objective is to bring down (the Syrian President Bashar al-) Assad," he said.
In case of recent nuclear talks between Iran and G5+1, it should be noted that Secretary of Supreme National Security Council of Iran (SNSCI), Saeed Jalili had two-day intensive talks with the G5+1, headed by the EU Foreign Policy Chief, Catherine Ashton, on Iran nuclear issue.
EU foreign policy chief, who headed the delegations of the six world powers in negotiations with Tehran, announced in the joint press conference with Jalili that the two sides made progress and held positive talks in Baghdad on Wednesday and Thursday.
Secretary of Supreme National Security Council of Iran also said on last Thursday that the Tehran-G5+1 talks were held in a good atmosphere.
The Baghdad meeting came after Iran and the six world powers resumed talks in Istanbul, Turkey, last month and agreed to meet again in the Iraqi capital on May 23.
The two sides are due to continue their negotiations in the Russian capital, Moscow, on June 18 and 19.
Furthermore, in case of the ongoing regional Islamic Awakening, it is important to know that Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.
Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.
The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.
In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Bashar al-Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but the US and Zionist regime plots could spark some new unrest in certain parts of the country.