TEHRAN, 12 January 2004 — Iran’s President Mohammad Khatami called on the United States yesterday to accept Tehran’s right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes if it wants to see an improvement in ties between the two countries.
Cooperation between Tehran and Washington on relief aid to victims of last month’s earthquake in southeastern Iran led to some signs of rapprochement between the two arch foes with US officials suggesting a resumption of a dialogue with Iran. But Tehran has so far rebuffed the US offer to re-start limited talks broken off by Washington last May, arguing US officials must first change their attitude toward Iran.
Khatami singled out US criticism of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran says its nuclear facilities are geared to producing electricity, not bombs and last month signed an international protocol binding it to snap inspections of its nuclear facilities. “They have wrongly accused us of having nuclear weapons,” Khatami told reporters after a Cabinet meeting in Tehran.
“We have signed the additional protocol and if the Americans have good will now they should take back their words and also accept our legal right to have peaceful nuclear technology under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.”
US President George W. Bush this month praised Tehran for allowing US humanitarian aid to be sent to earthquake victims but at the same time reiterated long-standing accusations that led him to label Iran an “axis of evil” member in 2002.
“The Iranian government must listen to the voices of those who long for freedom, must turn over Al-Qaeda (members) that are in their custody and must abandon their nuclear weapons program,” Bush said.
Khatami said he hoped that US earthquake relief for Iran, which included a waiver on banking restrictions to speed the flow of donations, “proves to be a strong indication of fundamental change in US policies and that they take back the baseless comments they have made about us.”
Quake Survivor Dies
A 57-year-old man pulled out alive from the rubble of his home 13 days after a massive quake destroyed the southeastern Iranian city of Bam has died, the official news agency IRNA said yesterday.
The agency said Jalil Shahinaki, who slipped into a deep coma after being pulled from the rubble Wednesday by an Iranian search and rescue team, died overnight in a field hospital in the razed city.
A member of the team at the Ukrainian field hospital where the man was being treated, Dr. Mehdi Shadnoush, cited heart failure as well as respiratory and pulmonary problems as the cause of death.
