Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Iran FM Discusses Nuclear Program, Syria at CFR


Council on Foreign Relations on Monday hosted an on-the-record meeting in New York with Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. Below are some of the points he made during the event, which was moderated by New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright. The text was provided by CFR.
On whether Iran with a nuclear bomb would mean regional stability: “No, no…Had Iran chosen to go nuclear in the sense of weaponization…it would attract more threats and invite more threats from the other side. Because suppose we wanted to go nuclear and manufacture one or two rudimentary bombs, who is on the other side? It’s not India and Pakistan. Seemingly, it is Iran and the U.S.”
Salehi himself posed the question whether any “rational” country, including Iran, would think to challenge the U.S., and then answered: “Certainly not.”
On the progress of Iran nuclear talks: “Each time that the two sides came close to some kind of understanding, mutual understanding, somehow it was disrupted…a phantom-third party has disrupted this. But we have not lost hope.”
On regime change in Syria: “We wish [the Syrian government] had taken a better position…in the outbreak of the uprising. There were some mistakes committed, but this does not justify in any way interference from outside. We are not in a position…we never think, ever, to tell the president of a country, ‘please step down.’”
On a question about Syria potentially using chemical weapons in the current conflict: “If a country, any country, including Iran, uses weapons of mass destruction, that is the end of the validity, eligibility, legality of that government…It is something that is not at all acceptable. Therefore, if your hypothesis, God forbid, ever materializes, I think nobody can justify it anymore; Nobody can go along with anybody who has been involved in such …inhuman acts.”

File photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi (AFP)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds good and logical for everybody who sincerely wants a peace on the Earth.

Dissident

Anonymous said...

yes, it does sound good......


....except maybe for that part about "just one or two little nuclear bombs is no big deal".

that doesn't sound good...or logical

THAT sound like what the world expects from the iranian government.


and of course, Iran blaming all lack of agreement in negotiations on an invisible third party sounds like the usual horse hockey

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:06AM

Looks like YOU WANT that Iran will always be WEAK .....

Dissident

Anonymous said...

Not at all. I want masses of strong and determined Iranians to rise and throw off the oppressive theocracy and rebuild the nation to greatness.

Anonymous said...

Anon 4:31 PM

North Korea has nuclear weapons and South Korea hasn't.
Which one is weak?

Soviet Union proved that having a powerful military with nuclear weapons alone doesn't make you strong.Their economy was in a shambles.

And now that Iran's currency is more worthless than even Somali, having nuclear weapons backed by a rotten economy doesn't make it strong.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:05PM

Your propaganda tries to divert attention from a point, that during aggressions economies do not work by "marauders" wishes or standards.

If Soviet Union (Russia) would not have nuclear weapons they wouldn't exist then and today...

The positives which were achieved by Iran; under sanctions. agressions and sabotage have almost no examples in human history.

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:40PM

Look at Turkey and other countries of the region, they have embraced the West long time agou and they don't have so skilled scientists and engineers as well as programs that envision going into the space with humans...

Under "Iranian Theocracy's" policies you still can (privately) go to Turkey or other countries to drink their coffee and whisky (or be a nudist..) as long as your behavior on the teritory of the Islamic Republic respects its rules.

Dissident