Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, in a television interview with NBC News on Wednesday night, said firmly that his country has no plans to build a nuclear weapon, no desire to do so, and hopes that tensions with the U.S. over its atomic program can soon be put to rest.
“We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb, and we are not going to do so,” Rouhani told NBC’s Ann Curry in the interview. “We solely are looking for peaceful nuclear technology.”
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Iran has repeatedly said over the years that its nuclear program is intended for energy and scientific purposes, but the U.S. routinely rejects these assertions.
Rouhani, however, considered more moderate and less bellicose than his predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was precise and unwavering in his statement: “Under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever.”
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The interview with the U.S. news outlet comes amid increased tension in the region, with one of Iran’s key allies, Syria, in the midst of a bloody civil war and under threat of possible military attack by western powers. Still, according to many experts on Iran and the politics of the regioin, Rouhani’s election has opened a door to new diplomatic opportunities between the U.S. and the Islamic republic.
According to NBC:
According to a Wednesday op-ed in the Guardian penned by Hossein Mousavian, a former spokesperson for Iran’s nuclear negotiating team, the time for new talks and a path forward between the U.S. and Iran is now. Published just ahead Rouhani’s comments to NBC, he writes:
Though it won’t be easy, a report put out last month by the International Crisis Groups urges U.S. policy makers and elected officials to take a more flexible and productive approach to Iran. As foreign policy analyst Jim Lobe reported at the time:
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