Excerpts from the interview by Iran’s Chief Nuclear Negotiator

In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
Dr. Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran´s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) and Iran´ top nuclear negotiator, in a French radio interview on Thursday February 17, 2006, declared the latest positions of the Islamic Republic of Iran on the issue of Iran´s peaceful nuclear program.  Following are excerpts of the interview :

• The lslamic Republic of Iran wants to use the peaceful nuclear technology within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
• The Islamic Republic of Iran has been and continues to be committed to its international non-proliferation commitments.
  Unfortunately certain western countries, contrary to their public statements, have been insisting in the negotiations that Iran should not have any nuclear technology and know-how. This is a double-standard behavior in international system and can not be acceptable.
• The Islamic Republic of Iran like other nations such as Brazil, Japan and many European Countries would like to exercise its inalienable rights to peaceful use of nuclear technology and play its role in this category of countries in international arena
  The best guarantee for peacefulness of the nuclear program of the Islamic Republic of Iran could include the following measures:
  • Accepting the current IAEA monitoring and verification systems.
  • Use of modern centrifuges, proposed by some American and British scientists, which permit only limited enrichment.
  • participation of interested countries in Iran´s peaceful nuclear activities in the form of a consortium.
• Accordingly, there are various ways to ensure that Iran is not pursuing Military nuclear programs.
• Should these guarantees be acceptable, the Islamic Republic of Iran would accept to send the Additional Protocol to the Parliament for ratification.
• It has been the consistent policy of the Islamic Republic of Iran to employ peaceful nuclear technology for country´s economic development.
• It would be much more appropriate that rather than simply repeating the positions of the United States, the EU would act independently and propose new ways on the basis of the inalienable rights enshrined in the NPT.
• The Islamic Republic of Iran stands ready to cooperate with the EU in this regard and it is appropriate to avoid the language of threat and imposition in this process. Therefore, should the EU change its discourse and stand ready to clearly recognize the Iran´s rights in the framework of the NPT, there will be a complete readiness on Iran´s side to cooperate with Europe.
• The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to negotiate and cooperate with all other countries (except the Zionist regime) in this regard.
• The main problem with the European´s proposal in August 2005 was its negligence of Iran´s inalienable right to peaceful nuclear technology, in contradiction to the provisions of the NPT.
• We are of the view that the potentials and capacities of the European Union can be employed to resolve this issue and we stand ready to cooperate with the EU for the longer term as well. In the past, we had the same position, but we have not witnessed appropriate behaviors of the European side. The cancellation of the construction of the Bushehr power plant by the Siemens of Germany, the refusal of France’s EURODIEF to deliver Uranium and failure of the United State´s to honor its commitment to deliver the Uranium for Tehran´s research reactor, which had been paid for, are but a few examples of the behaviors that are not comprehensible. These are some of the reasons which have caused our mistrust towards the west and have encouraged us to go for the completion of our own peaceful nuclear program.
• Should a credible international system for providing nuclear fuel be in place, the Islamic Republic of Iran would be ready to procure its nuclear fuel from that system.  However, such a system dose not exist at present.

The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in London

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