Iran’s Rebirth in the World

-The nuclear deal must not be viewed only as a statement by foreign ministers; one must have a comprehensive look at it.

-The positive aspect of Iran’s nuclear case was Iran’s insistence on reaching the right to use peaceful nuclear energy as a NPT member country.

-Following the victory of the Islamic Revolution, particularly during Mr. Hashemi’s presidency when Iran made a serious decision to acquire nuclear technology, the possibility of free and unlimited access to this technology was not prepared for Iran due to the confrontational atmosphere which the western countries had created against Iran.

-Thus, Iran attempted to show that it could stand on its own feet despite the limitations, hence pursuing its covert nuclear program.

-Therefore, Iran chose this path, which led to great costs, also to safeguard its national pride until 2001 when Iran was accused of pursuing a non-peaceful nuclear program based on the claims of intelligence services.

-But these accusations did not stop Iran from pursuing this path to reach the complete cycle of nuclear fuel. This process evolved during twelve years until the first cascade of centrifuges was built which meant that Iran had reached self-sufficiency in enrichment.

-In the continuation of nuclear advancements, these cascades were connected to each other and Iran was able to continue its enrichment to 20% and even higher levels.

-The message to those who opposed Iran’s activities was that Iran was among the countries which, despite the pressures and limitations, were able to reach technological and scientific advancements in the nuclear area which could not even be destroyed by bombs.

-The negative aspects of Iran’s nuclear activities were that Iran took certain measures in the production and expansion of its nuclear activities which contradicted international norms because this technology should usually be developed through cooperation and collaboration between countries.

-This cooperation is aimed at reducing the concerns about nuclear activities.

- During Mr. Ahmadinejad’s presidency, propaganda about nuclear activities was exaggerated and statements were made in this regard which in the international language meant that we had the possibility to produce an atomic bomb.

-This issue led to the imposition of sanctions and adoption of resolutions against our country.

-The approach of Mr. Ahmadinejad’s administration further complicated the matters.

-But in 2013, Mr. Rohani’s government changed this approach and pursued interaction with the international community to resolve the nuclear issue.

-From the beginning, Mr. Rohani realized that the problems of the country would not be solved without the resolution of the nuclear issue, thus, the first step was to unlock this matter so that the grounds would be prepared for foreign investments to enter the country.

-Thus, the Rohani administration entered a diplomatic confrontation with the world powers in order to show the critics inside Iran that a foreign policy which is based on tension and fighting could not safeguard national interests,; constructive interaction could pave the way for cooperation and positive competition.

-The nuclear deal should be considered as Iran’s rebirth in the world. We must learn this lesson that if we seek to have active presence in the world we must have respectful, interactive and cooperative approach towards it.

-In the end, I hope that this agreement would be the beginning of Iran’s progress and a reminder for us to never think about going back and pursuing a confrontational approach.