TEHRAN: Iran is a nuclear power and it will not tolerate threats from world powers when they discuss Tehran’s package of proposals on Oct. 1, a top aide to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told AFP in an interview.
Ali Akbar Javanfekr, media adviser to Ahmadinejad, also said that accepting Tehran as a nuclear power was the “first step” toward normalizing relations between Tehran, Washington and the West.
“Iran is a nuclear power. We won’t accept any threats during the negotiations or even after. We want negotiations based on logic and international laws,” Javanfekr said in a wide-ranging interview at his Tehran office late on Tuesday. “They have to accept a nuclear Iran and have to negotiate with a nuclear Iran.”
Iran and representatives of six world powers — the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China and Germany — are to meet on Oct. 1, probably in Turkey, to discuss Tehran’s proposals aimed at allaying concerns over its nuclear program.
Javanfekr said Iran’s nuclear program was in accordance with international laws. “What we want is that they (world powers) respect our nuclear rights and also other rights,” he said. “This can be the first step toward normalizing relations with US and the West.”
Javanfekr also reiterated what other top Iranian officials, including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, have been saying — Tehran will not negotiate over its nuclear program during the talks on Oct. 1. “We have said negotiations will be based on our package and our package does not include Iran’s nuclear program. As our president has said the nuclear question is over,” the official said.
”We have the technology and that is a reality which they have to accept,” Javanfekr said, suggesting that Ahmadinejad’s announcement earlier this year that Iran had mastered the nuclear fuel cycle was probably the reason Tehran now feels it unnecessary to be part of an international uranium consortium. “The situation would have been different if we had not mastered this technology. They have to understand that we have made progress in other fields also and our progress has been fast,” he added.
Javanfekr said Iran is ready to face the six powers and “during the talks we will definitely speak of banning nuclear arms globally because it is not a problem for us as we do not possess any nuclear arms.”
Javanfekr said Iran is ready to step up its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“Our cooperation with the IAEA is of the highest level and we are ready for more cooperation,” he said. Iran recently permitted IAEA inspectors to its heavy-water plant in Arak, located in the province of Markezi.
