Ex-Minister in Iran Urges Referendum on Nuclear Program

 

A leading Iranian opposition figure and former interior minister has called for a national referendum on the country's nuclear program in response to new Western sanctions that have stifled the nation’s economy.

"It is quite obvious that we should have the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program, but the question is whether it's worth sacrificing national interests for the sake of only one issue," Abdollah Nouri said at a meeting with student activists in Tehran.

"It would therefore be wise to let the people decide in a referendum about the nuclear dispute between Iran and the world powers."

The referendum would ask whether Iranians prefer to continue with the nuclear program or discontinue it in the face of Western sanctions imposed due to fears Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, the opposition website Jaras reported Thursday.

"It is said that the latest oil sanctions have decreased national income by 25 percent and it is quite obvious that such a decrease will gravely affect the economy and people's lives," Nouri said.

Nouri, 62, was interior minister from 1989 to 1993 and again from 1997 to 1998, but in 1999 he faced a trial over the publication of anti-Islamic materials and reputed links to the United States, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. A clerical court sentenced him to a five-year jail term. He was released in 2002.

There is talk in Iran that he could be the reformist opposition candidate in next year's presidential election.

As the Insider Report disclosed last week, in a recent survey conducted in Iran by the Islamic Republic of Iran News Network, more than two-thirds of respondents opted for "the suspension of uranium enrichment in exchange for the gradual lifting of sanctions," in answer to the question: "Which way do you prefer to confront the unilateral sanctions of the West against Iran?"

But nearly 20 percent favored closing the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the sanctions.

Nouri’s calls for a referendum come as the U.S. Navy is rushing dozens of unmanned underwater craft to the Persian Gulf to help detect and destroy mines in a buildup aimed at preventing Iran from closing the strategic strait, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The 88-pound, 4-feet-long remotely guided submersibles carry a TV camera, homing sonar and an explosive charge. When the craft, known as the SeaFox, detects a mine, it obliterates itself as well as the mine.

Some officials in Tehran have threatened to close the narrow strait between Iran and Oman, a choke point for a fifth of the oil traded worldwide, using sea mines, speedboats and coastal missile batteries, according to the Boston Herald.

Along with the SeaFox devices, the Pentagon now has eight minesweeping ships in the region, and four MH-53 minesweeping helicopters.

 

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