NEW YORK, Sept 26 – Iranian President, Hassan Rohani, in his maiden address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday, denied his country was pursuing a nuclear bomb, and offered an olive branch to the United States, Tehran’s longstanding foe, Zimbabwe’s news agency, New Ziana, reported.
Washington suspects Iran of developing nuclear weapons, and has together with its European allies imposed economic sanctions on Tehran to force it to give up the suspected ambition.
The Iranian President however insisted that the country was pursuing a civilian nuclear programme, and offered talks with the United States and other major powers on the issue without pre-conditions.
“Iran’s nuclear programme – and for that matter, that of all other countries – must pursue exclusively peaceful purposes. I declare here, openly and unambigously that, notwithstanding the positions of others, this has been, and will always be, the objective of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” he said.
“Nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran’s security and defence doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions. Our national interests make it imperative that we remove any and all reasonable concerns about Iran’s peaceful nuclear programme,” he added.
Rohani further said that Tehran will not negotiate away its rights to civilian nuclear technology in the name of rapprochement with the United States or other powers.
Nor will Iran curve in to Western pressure, applied through illegal economic sanctions, over its pursuit of a civilian nuclear programme, he added.
He said that rapprochement with the United States and other powers will have to be based ‘on mutual respect and common interest’ to succeed, and implored Washington to drop its previous short-sightedness in its dealings with Iran.
“Iran seeks constructive engagement with other countries based on mutual respect and common interest, and within the same framework does not seek to increase tensions with the United States,” Rohani noted.
– BERNAMA
