Post #5116

Iran’s President Says the US Makes Hay From Iranian Nukes Iran’s president insisted his country was not seeking a nuclear weapon as he acknowledged “great sorrow” after the authorities’ recent crackdown on protesters. Speaking to crowds gathered across Iran to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution, Pezeshkian sought to claim a message of national unity after demonstrations that roiled the country and triggered an unprecedented crisis for the regime. The comments were made against a backdrop of negotiations with the US that hang in the balance, with the prospect of a military confrontation on the table and repeated claims by Iranian military leadership that it is ready to confront and defeat America. On Tuesday,Trump said he was considering sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to prepare for military action if talks with Tehran failed. Pezeshkian said Iran was willing to negotiate over its nuclear programme and was “ready for any kind of verification” in relation to its insistence it is not trying to build nuclear weapons. However, the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran’s nuclear stockpile. Pezeshkian said: “The high wall of mistrust that the United States and Europe have created through their past statements and actions does not allow these talks to reach a conclusion. “At the same time, we are engaging with full determination in dialogue aimed at peace and stability in the region alongside our neighbouring countries.” While he did not directly address the bloodshed by authorities in suppressing the protests, Pezeshkian said: “We are ashamed before the people. We are obliged to serve all those who were harmed in this process. We are ready to hear the voice of the people. We are servants of the people and we do not seek to confront the people.” However, Pezeshkian spurned an appeal from leaders of reformist parties to speak out against the mass arrest of their leadership in recent days. In a statement, the Reform Front told Pezeshkian that a failure to demand their release would be understood as a betrayal of his campaign promises and a blow to peace. Lawyers acting for the detained reformists said they understood they were being kept in solitary confinement. Media organisations close to the security forces claimed they were guilty of sedition by trying to organise a national conference to call for change. Israel wants the talks to include the question of Tehran’s ballistic missile programme, a matter that Iran has so far rejected. Tehran is determined that its stockpile of ballistic missiles, regarded as necessary for Iran’s defence, is excluded from the talks. Ali Shamkhani, a representative of the supreme leader, said the missile issue was not something that the negotiators had authority over. In his latest remarks, Trump suggested Iran’s nuclear missiles would have to be included in any agreement. #iran#president#country#nuclear#weapon 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸