Netanyahu: Rohani has no say in Iran’s nuclear program

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday that the recent election of Hassan Rohani as Iran’s president was unlikely to bring about any change in Iran’s nuclear policy. Netanyahu was commenting on Rohani’s statement pledging to promote nuclear transparency and dialogue with the West over Tehran’s nuclear program.

„He [Rohani] doesn’t count. He doesn’t call the shots,” Netanyahu said. He said it was Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who made all the decisions on nuclear policy, which the West fears is geared towards developing an atomic weapon.

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„The Iranian election clearly reflects deep disaffection of the Iranian people with its regime, but unfortunately it doesn’t have the power to change Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” Netanyahu told Reuters.

Iran, he said, was using its presidential elections to buy time: „They are using time. He himself admitted they were using time basically to continue Iran’s nuclear weapons program.”

Commenting on the international sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program, Netanyahu said, „These sanctions actually produced the change we have seen today. They did not work counterproductively. They produced some change in Iran, but they have not yet produced the change that we need to see. So stay firm with the demands and firm with the sanctions.”

Netanyahu said he would not be setting any further red lines, but that world powers had to persuade Iran to halt all enrichment and remove the uranium stockpiles.

„The red line has not changed. Neither has the Iranian pursuit of approaching it gradually, running out the clock, buying time, putting up a more hospitable face. These are all tactics. Again and again and again,” he said.

Rohani held his first news conference as Iran’s new president on Monday in Tehran, expressing his hope that the world would grasp a new opportunity for „constructive interaction” with Iran and pledging to be more transparent about the Islamic republic’s nuclear program to see the sanctions imposed on his country lifted.

A moderate conservative cleric, Rohani scored an emphatic and surprise election win over conservative rivals on Friday and has quickly moved to assure Iranians and the world that he will keep his pledges of better relations with other countries.

„There is an opportunity now … I hope that all countries take advantage of this opportunity, because this opportunity is beneficial from the point of view of mutual national interests. If one looks at the world today, we see tensions and stresses in the economic and political arenas across the world as well as in the [Middle East] region. Therefore relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and its new government will not only be beneficial for the Iranian nation, but also for the countries in the region and the wider world,” he said.

Rohani, who served as Iran’s nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005, said Tehran would be more transparent about its activities in the future in order to resolve the long-standing nuclear dispute.

„We will look at taking two specifics to allow us to remove and resolve the issue of sanctions [against Iran]. The first is to take the path towards increased transparency [over Iran’s nuclear program]. Of course our nuclear programs are totally transparent in nature. But we are ready to show more transparency and to show the world that Iran’s nuclear work complies fully with the international framework.

„Secondly, we will promote the growth of mutual trust between Iran and other nations. Wherever this mutual trust is under threat, we will make efforts to strengthen this mutual trust. In my view, the way to end the sanctions regime [against Iran] is through mutual trust and greater transparency within the framework of international rules and regulations,” he said.

Asked if Iran would be willing to engage in direct dialogue with the U.S., Rohani said the U.S. had to recognize Iran’s nuclear rights and pledge not to interfere in its internal affairs before direct talks between the two countries could take place.

„The issue of relations between Iran and America is a difficult and complex one. It is not a simple problem. There exists an old wound [between the two countries] and it is necessary for it to close in order for it to heal,” he said.

„Of course, we will not seek to increase or widen tensions [between the two countries]. Logic and sense also dictates that the two people and the two nations should look forward to the future, and to sit down and think about the past and how to make amends.

„But any dialogue with America, aside from the fact that it has to be based on mutual respect, on mutual interests and on a level field, has to be based on a set of conditions which have to be adhered to and implemented.

„Firstly, the Americans must agree that they will not interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. Secondly, they must recognize all the rights of the Iranian nation, including the right to a nuclear program. And thirdly, they must put aside policies that are one-sided or those that try to bully and intimidate Iran. Of course, with these conditions the ground could be ready, and if there is a sense that there exists a degree of good will, then there will be a level playing field.

„But everyone must understand that the future government [of Iran] will not give up what rightfully belongs to the Iranian nation.”