KHAMENEH’I REJECTED BUSH’S OLIVE BRANCH
TEHRAN 14 Nov. (IPS) the Islamic Republic rejected out hand the United States’ olive branch, saying anyone works to promote Americans policies is acting against the interests of Iran and Islam.
"Anybody provoking a psychological war against the (Iranian)
establishment works for the U.S., no matter (if) he receives money for this or
works (for) free", Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the
Islamic Republic told worshippers in Tehran on Friday.
His comments came hours after US President George W. Bush had indicated a softening of stance against Iran and North Korea by saying that military action was not the only way to deal with problems.
"Not every situation needs to be resolved through military action. And I would cite to you North Korea and Iran, -- the two regimes he had labeled as "rogue states" --" Bush said in an interview with three British newspapers ahead of a state visit to London next week.
"The case in Iraq was unique, is unique, because the world, for over a decade, had spoken. The diplomatic route was tried," Bush said in the interview with London's Financial Times and Daily Telegraph newspapers and Britain's domestic Press Association news agency.
On Iran, Bush said: "The Iranians must hear from a unified world that it
is unacceptable for them to develop a nuclear weapon".
Repeating his endless anti US diatribes, Khameneh’i lashed out at President Bush, saying "Americans killed hundreds of innocent people in Afghanistan and they continue to attack and kill Iraqi civilians".
Khameneh’i said Washington's occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq had fueled anti-American sentiment throughout the region.
"They are suppressing the Iraqi people exactly like Saddam Hussein", he said, adding
"The Americans "overthrew an Iraqi dictator and installed a foreign dictator in his place".Bush thanked Britain, France and Germany for the diplomatic efforts that led to Iran promising to comply with its international obligations.
Europe’s three big troika were reported on Friday preparing a toughly-worded resolution criticizing Iran for concealing sensitive nuclear technology for decades from the United Nations nuclear watchdog, diplomats said Friday.
Iran officially said on 21 September to foreign ministers of France, Germany and Britain that it would sign the additional Protocol to the Non Proliferation Treaty and suspend all its uranium enriching activities.
Iran’s letter to that undertaking was officially handed over to Dr Mohammad el-Bradeh’i, the Egyptian Director of the Vienna-based IAEA last week.
On November 20, the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors meets to discuss an IAEA report on Iran's nuclear program, detailing 18 years of failures by Iran to inform the agency of all its atomic activities and facilities.
But the report also says that Iran has lately cooperated more closely with the United Nations nuclear watchdog and atomic inspectors have found no prove that Tehran was building nuclear
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told reporters in Japan: "We are strongly determined on complete transparency. We have cooperated even more than the IAEA expected", he said.
However, the report surprised Washington, insisting that Iran's nuclear program is a front to build the bomb and wants the board to declare Iran in breach of its obligations under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which would require it to report Tehran to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions.
A Western diplomat told the British news agency "Reuters" on condition of anonymity that European, Latin American and most board members from the Non-Aligned Movement had "a more or less common opinion" against reporting Iran to the Council.
"It would be extremely difficult, or simply impossible to reach a consensus on non-compliance (with the NPT)," the diplomat said, adding most board members favored a "strongly worded resolution that sends a very strong message" to Iran.
Diplomats said France, Germany and Britain had indicated they were already working on such a draft resolution, though they said nothing had been circulated yet.
It was unclear whether the proposal would be enough to satisfy the United States and its allies taking a similarly tough line on the Iran issue -- Canada and Australia.
But a diplomat who follows the IAEA closely questioned the value of such a proposal: "How sharply-worded is a resolution that does not contain the word non-compliance?"
Tehran warned Thursday the crisis surrounding Iran's nuclear program could escalate if the IAEA finds it in breach of its NPT obligations and reports it to the Security Council.
"Things could very easily get out of control," Iran's ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Akbar Salehi, told Reuters, adding that "it could lead to unpredictable consequences".
Salehi also rejected the charge, but he did not rule out that "intermediaries" may have sold Iran uranium enrichment centrifuge parts originating from Pakistan.
Pakistan, a nuclear weapons state that has refused to sign the NPT, denied a report in a British newspaper that said Iran had confirmed Pakistan had helped it with its nuclear program.
A Pakistan foreign ministry statement called the report "totally baseless."
"These unsubstantiated reports occur periodically in some sections of the Western media and they reflect their long-standing anti-Muslim bias", the statement said.
Khameneh’i also repeated his usual attack on Iranian independent press and all those who back opening dialogue with Washington, saying U.S. backers in Iran are seeking to use the country's press to bring down the ruling Islamic establishment.
"I warned some years ago that some newspapers are becoming bases for the enemy. They are now taking the mask away from their faces", Khameneh’i added without naming the accused press, most of them close to the reformists.
On his order, the Judiciary has shut over 100 publications and jailed a dozen of leading journalists, intellectuals and scholars in the last 3 years for criticizing the rule of Iran's unelected hard-liners. ENDS US IRAN 141103