TEHRAN: Iran’s president said yesterday he is willing to forget the past and build a new relationship with the United States, adding that he is preparing a new package of proposals aimed at breaking the impasse with the West over his country’s nuclear program.
The remarks by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to thousands in the southeastern city of Kerman took a conciliatory tone not usually heard in his speeches.
“The Iranian nation is a generous nation. It may forget the past and start a new era, but any country speaking on the basis of selfishness will get the same response the Iranian nation gave to Mr. Bush,” Ahmadinejad said.
He spoke a day after President Barack Obama’s administration said its immediate goal is to get Iran back to the negotiating table. Though the US government declined to publicly discuss possible new strategies for dealing with Tehran on the nuclear issue, one senior official said they could involve allowing Iran to continue enriching uranium at its current level for some time.
That concession was agreed two years ago by the US and five other powers — Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. But they still want to wrest a commitment from Iran not to increase enrichment while arranging formal negotiations on a permanent nuclear agreement.
Ahmadinejad said “circumstances have changed” — an apparent reference to Obama’s election and Iran’s own progress in its nuclear program since talks with the world powers last year.
Iran says it now controls the entire cycle for producing nuclear fuel — from extracting uranium ore to enriching it and producing nuclear fuel. On Thursday, the country opened a new nuclear facility producing uranium fuel pellets for a planned heavy-water nuclear reactor — the final step in the long, sophisticated nuclear fuel cycle.
Ahmadinejad said Iran welcomes dialogue with the world powers provided that it is based on justice and respect, suggesting the West should not try to force it to halt its uranium enrichment program.
“Today we are preparing a new package. Once it becomes ready, we will present that package (to you),” the president said. “It is a package that constitutes peace and justice throughout the globe and also respects other nations’ rights.” He was responding to the US, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia whose representatives said last week that they will invite Iran for new talks over its nuclear program.
Ahmadinejad boasted that Iran’s resistance and progress in nuclear technology has forced Washington to retreat from its position.
“You know well that today you are suffering from weaknesses. You have no choice. You can’t make any progress through bullying policies. I advise you to change and correct your tone and respect other nations’ rights,” he said.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that US and European diplomats could scrap their demand that Iran cease enriching uranium at the start of talks with the six nations, which would mark a sharp shift in policy.
But the report was dismissed by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs as not “accurate.”
