Iran says it's ready to negotiate
By Anthony Deutsch
The Associated Press
Jakarta, Indonesia - Iran's president said today he was ready to negotiate with the United States and its allies over his country's nuclear program but he also suggested that any threats against Tehran would make the dialogue more difficult.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also intensified his verbal attacks on Israel, calling it a "a tyrannical regime that one day will be destroyed." The Iranian leader, known for his fiery rhetoric, made his remarks to cheering students and in a television interview during a visit to the world's largest Muslim majority nation amid a deepening standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program and suspicions it is seeking atomic weapons.
Asked what it would take to begin talks with the United States to resolve the standoff, Ahmadinejad told Metro TV that Iran "is ready to engage in dialogue with anybody." "There are no limits to our dialogue," Ahmadinejad told Metro TV station. "But if someone points a weapon at your face and says you must speak, will you do that?" Key U.N. Security Council members agreed Tuesday to postpone a resolution that would have delivered an ultimatum to Tehran, giving Iran another two weeks to reevaluate its insistence on developing its uranium enrichment capabilities.
The Chinese and Russians have balked at the British, French and U.S. efforts to put the resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N.
Charter. Such a move would declare Iran a threat to international peace and security and set the stage for further measures if Tehran refuses to suspend its uranium enrichment operations. Those measures could range from breaking diplomatic relations to economic sanctions and military action.
Ahmadinejad told cheering crowds of students in the Indonesian capital that it was the right of every country - not just the United States - to use new technology to meet energy needs. The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies, saying it aims only to generate energy.
"We are not only defending our rights, we are defending the rights of many other countries," he added. "By maintaining our position, we are defending our independence." Ahmadinejad also said Western nations with large stocks of nuclear weapons were practicing "double standards" in pressing Iran to stop its "peaceful" nuclear program.
"The big powers ... have a lot of nuclear weapons in their warehouse," he told about 1,000 students at Islamic University on Jakarta's southern outskirts.
"We want to use technology for peace and the welfare of the Muslim people around the world," he said. "But they want to use it to invade other countries. This is the difference between us and them." Ahmadinejad |
