Iran’s Missile Program
“Iran’s missile power cannot undergo negotiation at all and at any level,” President Rouhani said in a meeting with visiting Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Yukio Amano in Tehran on Sunday.
He said any agreement between Iran and the Group
5+1 (the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) as
envisaged in the Geneva deal inked by the seven nations in November
should entail Iran’s continued uranium enrichment for civilian purposes inside the country and removal of all unilateral and international sanctions against Tehran.
“We have no fear of cooperation to obviate the
ambiguities since use of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) has no
room in Iran’s defensive doctrine based on the codes of ethics and
within the framework of religion and the fatwa (religious decree) issued
by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution (Ayatollah Seyed Ali
Khamenei),” President Rouhani stressed.
“Undoubtedly, reaching a comprehensive agreement
can be a win-win game for both sides and will help further peace and
stability in the region and the world, and Iran’s further and more
effective relations with the world,” President Rouhani said.
He expressed the hope that the IAEA would play “a positive and indiscriminate role in recognizing the countries’ right of using peaceful nuclear technology
once unreal ambiguities about Iran’s nuclear activities are removed”,
and said, “Iran is serious in its negotiations with the G5+1 countries
and the IAEA, and wants nothing more than its right, including
enrichment for peaceful purposes.”
Rouhani said that Iran has always sought
technical, legal and transparent cooperation with the UN nuclear
watchdog and it will never give up using civilian nuclear technology for
power, medical, agricultural and industrial purposes.
He called on the IAEA to release periodic reports on the step-by-step and growing progress in cooperation with Iran.
Amano arrived in the Iranian capital on Sunday morning at the head of a high-ranking delegation.
Iran and the IAEA deepened cooperation last November as Iran closed in on an interim nuclear deal with the six powers.
In late July and in its latest report on Iran, the
IAEA confirmed Tehran’s commitment to the interim deal it struck with
the Group 5+1 in Geneva in late November, 2013.
The IAEA’s report showed that Iran had met the
terms of the six-month agreement, under which it limited its atomic
activities in exchange for some easing of sanctions.
The discussions between the IAEA and Iran are a
separate track of talks from the international negotiations between Iran
and six powers on Iran’s future nuclear activities and removal of the
western sanctions.
On July 20, the deadline for reaching a final
agreement on Iran’s future nuclear activities was postponed by four
months—until November 24—to give more time for diplomatic efforts.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and
EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton in a joint statement after over
two weeks of talks stressed the need for more efforts and time to reach
an agreement with the world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Zarif and Ashton who presided the negotiating
sides, emphasized at the end of Iran-G5+1 negotiations that they have
held different sessions in different forms and in a constructive
atmosphere to reach a final comprehensive agreement.
Due to certain differences over some fundamental
issues the two sides agreed to extend the Joint Plan of Action by
November 24, they added.
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