Iran has remained faithful to its international obligations in the nuclear realm but will not be deprived of its rights, hardline president-elect Mahmood Ahmadinejad said Thursday on state television.
“We are faithful to our international obligations (in nuclear matters) but we will not allow the Iranian people to be deprived of their rights,” Mahmood Ahmadinejad said.
“Just as we hate weapons of mass destruction, we hate that some want to deprive other people from the right to peacefully use nuclear energy,” he said.
“Certain countries that possess nuclear technology do not have the right to deprive other countries from using nuclear energy,” he added.
Iranian nuclear negotiators called new talks with European representatives that began Wednesday in London on Iran’s nuclear program “constructive”, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iranian nuclear negotiator Hasan Rowhani delivered an “important and complete message” on “ways to get out of the current situation”, a member of the Iranian team told state news.
The United States suspects Iran aims to build nuclear bombs, but Tehran insists its nuclear activities are for peaceful purposes.
The EU-3 is seeking to engage the Islamic state, offering trade and other benefits to persuade it to curb its nuclear plans, and promised detailed proposals for technological, commercial and political cooperation by August.
The Europeans are trying to convince Iran to definitively give up uranium enrichment, which produces fuel for the civil power stations and can be diverted to manufacture nuclear weapons.
Iran agreed to suspend enrichment in November to allow the opening of the talks, but refuses to fully give up uranium enrichment.
The EU has threatened to support longstanding US demands that Iran be taken before the UN Security Council for discussion of possible sanctions if it resumes enrichment.
The presidential election in June saw the victory of ultra-conservative Ahmadinejad and raised international concerns that Iran may take a more hardline turn during his presidency.
