Ahmadinejad challenges Bush to TV debate
8/29/2006 4:00:00 PM GMT
Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad challenged the U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday to a televised debate on world affairs, the BBC reported.
President Ahmadinejad said Iran and many other states are against “America’s unjust practices in managing the world”.
"Isn't it time that international relations are founded on democracy and equal rights of the nations?”
"I suggest holding a live TV debate with Mr. George W. Bush to talk about world affairs and the ways to solve those issues…
The debate should be go uncensored in order for the American people to be able to listen to what we say and they should not restrict the American people from hearing the truth,” Ahmadinejad told a news conference.
The Iranian President also accused the United States and Britain of abusing their “special privileges”, questioning their right to a veto in the UN Security Council and saying that both countries are the “origin of all disturbances in the world.”
The White House said Ahmadinejad’s call for a live debate was a “diversion” from international concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.
"Talk of a debate is just a diversion from the legitimate concerns that the international community, not just the U.S., has about Iran's behavior," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
“An exceptional opportunity”
Ahmadinejad’s call came two days before a UN Security Council deadline for Tehran to suspend its nuclear program or face possible sanctions.
Iran, which described the UN resolution as “illegal”, has indicated that it won’t abandon its nuclear program, insisting that it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
At the news conference, the Iranian leader said Tehran had laid out a framework for serious talks with Western powers in its response to an incentive package - offered by the UN’s five permanent members plus Germany - in exchange of Tehran’s suspension of uranium enrichment.
This framework provided “an exceptional opportunity” to solve the nuclear standoff, he said.
However, Ahmadinejad stressed that nobody can stop the Islamic Republic from having a peaceful nuclear program.
"Peaceful nuclear energy is the right of the Iranian nation," he told reporters. "The Iranian nation has chosen that [course] based upon international regulations, it wants to use it and no-one can stop it."
When asked if Tehran would suspend uranium enrichment, he said any kind of dialogue "should be based upon the certain rights of the Iranian nation".
Ahmadinejad also dismissed the U.S.'s threats to impose sanctions on Iran if it ignores the UN deadline.
"(The U.S. ambassador to the UN John Bolton) is free to say whatever he wants ... our nation is a strong nation. A nation that has been able to attain the nuclear fuel cycle with its bare hands can solve any other problems."
The Iranian President also said that the Islamic Republic would consider renewing ties with the U.S. but said it was up to Washington to restore relations after cutting them shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran.
"They cut the relations themselves and they themselves should prepare the ground for (restoring ties)," he said.
"Unilateral sanctions"
Earlier, Bolton reaffirmed Washington’s determination to impose unilateral sanctions on Iran.
"The question of what to do about Iran is certainly not confined to the Security Council," he said, reiterating comments he made in a recent interview.
"You can envision sanctions being imposed outside of the Security Council as the United States has unilaterally imposed sanctions on Iraq pursuing to its own statutes ... Other governments can do the same," he added.
After Iran offered to hold talks with the West, Bolton told the Los Angeles Times that “everybody’s been on board” on the Security Council over Tehran. He added that Washington is planning to introduce a resolution imposing sanctions such as a travel ban and asset freeze for key Iranian officials soon after the UN deadline expires.
However, Bolton said that Washington will work outside the United Nations if Russia and China reject the U.S.-drafted resolution.
Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said that Washington wouldn’t only pursue UN sanctions on Iran, but would also hold talks with other governments about applying financial pressure on Tehran.
Separately, Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, claimed that Iran is a "central banker of terror."
Analysts say the latest developments indicate not only the U.S.’s determination to penalize Iran, but also the current weakness of Washington’s position because of its role in a series of conflicts in the Middle East, most recently its support for the Israel’s deadly offensive in Lebanon, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Under U.S. terrorism laws, Washington could ramp up its own sanctions, including financial restrictions on Iran and interception of missile and nuclear materials en route to Tehran, U.S. officials said.
Washington has imposed broad restrictions on almost all trade with Iran since 1987.
Talks of sanctions "premature"
Although Russia and China support the incentive package offered by Western powers, the two permanent UN members – also old allies and trading partners of Iran – have long opposed the threat of military action or imposition of sanctions against Tehran.
On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said talks of imposing sanctions on Tehran were “premature”.
"It is at least premature and unsound to speak of sanctions" as of now, Ivanov was quoted as saying by the ITAR-TASS news agency.
"In any case, Russia will continue to urge a political and diplomatic resolution (of the Iran nuclear problem), with the non-proliferation regime observed fully and harshly," Ivanov said.
Khatami to visit U.S.
In a separate development, Sean McCormack said a decision had been made to grant former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami a U.S. visa to speak next month at the Washington National Cathedral.
But he added that there were no plans for American officials to meet with Khatami, who would be the most senior Iranian official to visit Washington since the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979.
The Rev. Canon John L. Peterson, director of the cathedral's Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation, said Khatami was invited to speak on the role of the three Abrahamic faiths — Islam, Christianity and Judaism — can play in shaping peace.
aljazeera.com
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