TREATED AS A FUTURE HEAD OF STATE, ROHANI ENDED VISIT TO PARIS

By Safa Haeri
PARIS, 16 Jan. (IPS) Iran’s rising political figure, Jojjatoleslam Hasan Rohani, belittling the present political crisis over the disqualification of a number of prominent reformist lawmakers, assured France on Thursday that the “problem could be resolved very easily”, after the leader of the regime, ayatollah Ali Khamenehe’i ordered the Council of the Guardians to review its decision.

The 12-members Council that has the right to approve or reject the eligibility of all candidates to all Iran's elections has rejected nearly half of the candidates who registered to run for the 292-seat elections, due for 20 February, among them nearly 80 sitting Members of the Majles, or the Iranian Parliament.

Intervening in the dispute, Mr. Khameneh’i, who has the last word on every major issues, urged Wednesday on the CG that is controlled by the conservatives to allow some of the best-known MMs, among them the younger brother of the President, Dr Mohammad Reza Khatami as well as senior tenors of the Second Khordad Coalition that support the powerless Mohammad Khatami to run in the upcoming race.

“France is following the election with great attention and interest", France’s Foreign Affairs Minister Dominique de Villepin said during a joint press conference in Paris with the presence of his Iranian guest, without making any direct reference to the disqualifications that has been criticised by both the European Union and the United States.

On Thursday, the Iran Committee of the German Bundestag, or Parliament as well as a number of Eurodeputies expressed sympathy with the disqualified Iranian lawmakers who continued a protest sit-in and assured that they would continue the action until the CG overturn its controversial decision.

"Obviously we accept meddling from no country in our internal affairs", Rohani observed. "With a friend like France we have a friendly discussion ... but with the United States it's another matter", he added, and pointing at American elections, he said: "The situation of past American presidential elections, which unwound in a truly catastrophic and dramatic manner, no longer allows the United States to speak about elections in other countries".

"I asked Dr. Rohani that a gesture of clemency be made", Mr. de Villepin said referring to political prisoners in the Islamic Republic. "We hope that a page will definitively be turned with the next legislative elections", he added.

Talks between the two men also covered Iran's nuclear program, the Middle East conflict and post war Iraq, where the two sides called for the transfer of sovereignty to Iraqis and a bigger role for the United Nations in both that process and the reconstruction of the war-ravaged nation.

As Mr. De Villepin and Rohani were talking to reporters, thousands of Iraqis demonstrated in the predominantly Shi’ite city of Basra on the Shat-el-Arab-Arvand Rood border river just opposite Iran, responding to a call by Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq’s most senior Shi’a leader who is of Iranian origin, urging the departure of occupying forces, the transfer of power to the Iraq’s Provisory Governing Council and elections at the earliest possible date.

As in Vienna, some members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were again expressing concern over Iranian “hidden” nuclear activities, most particularly enriching uranium, Mr. De Villepin said he was “satisfied” at Tehran’s respect of engagements undertaken in the framework of the Additional Protocols to the Non Proliferation Treaty.

De Villepin, who alongside his colleagues from Britain and Germany went to Tehran last October and convinced Mr Rohani, the Secretary of Supreme Council on National Security to sign the Protocols that allows international nuclear inspectors to make instant, unrestricted inspections on any suspected Iranian atomic project, said he was pleased with Iranian advances toward greater transparency in the nuclear program.

"These meetings must continue in the future", de Villepin said. "I'm convinced that in the framework of deepening this dialogue we will find a solution".

But informed sources told Iran Press Service that on behind closed-doors talks, Mr. Rohani, a cleric who is very close to the Iranian leader, urged his French hosts to “respect’ their side of the Tehran agreements, meaning the transfer to Iran of advanced nuclear technologies for civilian purposes.

For Tehran, providing some of the fuel for the nuclear-powered electrical plants Iran projects to erect in the future by the French nuclear firm Eurodif, of which Iran is still a shareholder is part of the engagements taken by the IAEA against Iran’s signing of the Protocols, sources noted.

Iran plan to built six new electrical plants powered by atomic energy besides the one that is under construction in the Persian Gulf port of Booshehr with assistance from Russia and counts on France and Germany to jump on the occasion, as Moscow has already announced its readiness to oblige.
The 1000 megawatts electrical plant the Russians are building in Booshehr was originally designed and started by the German firm of Siemens before the Islamic revolution of 1979 that stopped all major contracts that were signed by the Shah, including two similar projects undertaken by French companies in the oil-rich Province of Khoozestan.

The United States, pressed by Israel, is accusing Tehran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons, using civilian projects, but Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and geared only toward producing electricity and agreed last month to accept unannounced inspections by the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency.

During his three-day stay in Paris, Mr. Rohani, expected by many Iranian analysts to become Speaker or President, was given an almost state welcome by being received by the French President Jacques Chirac and addressing the French Senate. ENDS FRANCE IRAN 16104.