Iran: Khamenei's ban on nuclear weapons binding
ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran Iran sought Tuesday to spell out in its
clearest terms yet that it is not seeking nuclear weapons, highlighting
a religious decree issued by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that
bans nuclear weapons.
The latest reference to Khamenei's declaration is seen
as a bid to close the door on debates that Iran may have carried out
atomic bomb trigger tests as inspectors from the U.N. atomic watchdog
were on their way to Tehran for a new round of discussions.
Iran authorities have often cited Khamenei's religious
edict, made more than seven years ago, in attempts to counter Western
suspicion that Iran could be moving toward nuclear arms. But Iranian
leaders now appear increasingly desperate to reopen talks with world
powers as a possible way to ease sanctions.
Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast touched on a
cultural rift between the Islamic Republic and the West, saying the
United States and its allies don't understand the significance of the
edict.
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FILE -- In this Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012
file photo, Iranian seminary students hold posters of supreme
leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a demonstration of clerics to
protest the film ridiculing Islam's Prophet Muhammad, in Tehran,
Iran, Saturday, Sept. 29, 2012. A religious decree issued by
Iran's supreme leader banning nuclear weapons is binding for the
Iranian government, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, Jan. 15,
2013, suggesting that the edict should end the debate over
whether Tehran is pursuing atomic arms. Ministry spokesman Ramin
Mehmanparast said the West must understand the significance of
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's edict for Iran, saying "there is
nothing higher than the exalted supreme leader's fatwa to define
the framework for our activities in the nuclear field." (AP
Photo/Vahid Salemi, File) |
"There is nothing higher than the exalted supreme
leader's fatwa to define the framework for our activities in the nuclear
field," he told a press conference.
Mehmanparast could not be more definitive in dispelling
suspicions that Iran may ultimately develop a nuclear weapon.
"We are the first country to call for a Middle East
free of nuclear weapons," he said. When the highest jurist and authority
in the country's leadership issues a fatwa, this will be binding for all
of us to follow. So, this fatwa will be our top agenda."
Mehmanparast said Westerners "don't have an accurate
understanding of Islamic beliefs and fatwas issued by great scholars,"
suggesting that the U.S. and its allies must take Khamenei's edit
seriously.
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FILE -- In this Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012
file photo released by an official website of the Iranian
supreme leader's office, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
listens to a speaker during a meeting in his tour in
northeastern Iran. A religious decree issued by Iran's supreme
leader banning nuclear weapons is binding for the Iranian
government, the Foreign Ministry said Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013,
suggesting that the edict should end the debate over whether
Tehran is pursuing atomic arms. Ministry spokesman Ramin
Mehmanparast said the West must understand the significance of
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's edict for Iran, saying "there is
nothing higher than the exalted supreme leader's fatwa to define
the framework for our activities in the nuclear field." (AP
Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader, File) |
To highlight its seriousness, he said Iran is willing
to "register the fatwa as an international document."
Although Iran views Khamenei's 2005 fatwa as a binding
declaration, the West and its allies have repeatedly accused Iran of
using any tactic to prolong the standoff and possibly advance its
nuclear capabilities.
The perception gap also strikes at the role of the
supreme leader himself. The most ardent followers consider the post as
divinely imbued and answerable only to God. For Iran's opponents,
Khamenei is often seen as guiding a ruling system seeking to outwit the
West and threaten Israel.
They want Iran to stop enriching uranium to a level
that could be turned relatively quickly into the fissile core of nuclear
arms. Iran denies such aspirations, insisting it is enriching only to
make reactor fuel and to make isotopes for medical purposes.
|
FILE -- In this Tuesday, July 24, 2012
file photo released by an official website of the Iranian
supreme leader's office, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei delivers a speech, in Tehran, Iran. A religious decree
issued by Iran's supreme leader banning nuclear weapons is
binding for the Iranian government, the Foreign Ministry said
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013, suggesting that the edict should end the
debate over whether Tehran is pursuing atomic arms. Ministry
spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said the West must understand the
significance of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's edict for Iran, saying
"there is nothing higher than the exalted supreme leader's fatwa
to define the framework for our activities in the nuclear
field." (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader, File) |
Senior U.N. investigators trying for more than a year
to restart a probe into Iran's alleged work on nuclear arms chose their
words carefully Tuesday about hopes for success as they left for Tehran
on a trip that sets the stage for separate talks between six world
powers and the Islamic Republic.
Team leader Herman Nackaerts said the International
Atomic Energy Agency hopes to "finalize the structured approach" that
would outline what the agency can and cannot do in its investigation.
Yukiya Amano, the IAEA chief, has expressed doubt that
Tuesday's trip would result in a deal, but Iran said it's optimistic.
"If there are any ambiguities or concerns, we are ready
to clear these ambiguities. This can be done under a structured
approach," he said.
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Herman Nackaerts of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Deputy Director General and Head of
the Department of Safeguards, speakes to the press before his
flight to Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, Tuesday,
Jan. 15, 2013.The U.N. team is embarking on a new try to restart
its probe into suspicions that Iran secretly worked on nuclear
arms. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) |
Iranians say they have a bitter memory of allowing IAEA
inspections and providing replies on a long list of queries over its
nuclear program in the past decade. Now, Tehran says such queries should
not be revived or remain open-ended once the IAEA has verified them.
Mehmanparast said Iran provided detailed explanations
to IAEA questions on six outstanding issues in the past but instead of
giving Iran a clean bill of health, the agency leveled new allegations
on the basis of "alleged studies" provided by Iran's enemies.
Iran uses that term to refer to a list of questions
including a dispute at Parchin, a military site southeast of Tehran,
where the agency suspects Iran ran explosive tests needed to set off a
nuclear charge.
Tehran has in the past allowed IAEA inspectors twice
into Parchin but now it says any new agency investigation must be
governed by an agreement that lays out the scope of such a probe.
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Herman Nackaerts of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Deputy Director General and Head of
the Department of Safeguards, speaks tomedia before his flight
to Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, Tuesday, Jan.
15, 2013. The U.N. team is embarking on a new try to restart its
probe into suspicions that Iran secretly worked on nuclear arms.
(AP Photo/Ronald Zak) |
"Obligations of the other party must be clearly
specified. If a claim is to be raised on a spot in Iran every day and
(the U.N. agency) seeks to visit our military facilities under such a
pretext ... this issue will be unending," Mehmanparast said.
Iran says the agency's suspicions are based on forged
intelligence from the United States, Israel and others, materials it has
not been allowed to see.
Iranian leaders appear to be frustrated over the long
investigations. Prominent lawmakers say Iran wants an end to the probe
once and for all.
"We are interested to put an end to these ambiguities.
We don't want a prolongation of this process," Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head
of the parliament's security committee, said recently.
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Herman Nackaerts of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Deputy Director General and Head of
the Department of Safeguards, arrives for his flight to Iran at
Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria, Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. The
U.N. team is embarking on a new try to restart its probe into
suspicions that Iran secretly worked on nuclear arms. (AP
Photo/Ronald Zak) |
Iran is also linking its cooperation with the IAEA on
Parchin to a commitment from the agency that Iran's nuclear dossier is
referred back to Vienna from the U.N. Security Council.
Iran is under four sets of Security Council sanctions
and stepped-up Western oil and banking sanctions over its refusal to
halt uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce
nuclear fuel or materials that can be used for a warhead.
Tuesday's trip by the IAEA team comes as Iran and six
world powers the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and
Germany prepare to meet, tentatively later this month.
The trip and the planned Iran talks are formally
separate but both IAEA officials and diplomats involved in the talks
privately acknowledge an informal link.
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Herman Nackaerts, center, of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA, Deputy Director
General and Head of the Department of Safeguards, arrives for
his flight to Iran at Vienna's Schwechat airport, Austria,
Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2013. The U.N. team is embarking on a new try
to restart its probe into suspicions that Iran secretly worked
on nuclear arms. (AP Photo/Ronald Zak) |
By compromising on the IAEA probe, Iran could argue
that the onus was now on the six powers to show some flexibility, temper
their demands, and roll back U.S. and European sanctions that have hit
Iran's critical oil exports and blacklisted the country from
international banking networks.
Mehmanparast made it clear Tuesday what Iran wants in
return for cooperation with the IAEA: "In exchange for the easing of
those ambiguities, our nuclear case should go back to its normal
procedure and all the discussions raised about our nuclear case should
be stopped."
George Jahn in Vienna contributed to this report.
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