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Asefi says Iran accustomed to US pressures

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Nov 28, IRNA -- Iran`s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza 
Asefi described recent US threats as "nothing new" for Iran and 
said they show America`s wrath towards Tehran. 
Responding to a question by a reporter during his weekly press 
briefing, he said Iran has always been subjected to hard pressures 
by the US in the past 25 years. 
However, the US Administration has never reaped the fruit of 
such presseures, he added. 
Referring to US claims that the Iranian press and media have 
always been trying to portray Americans as "satans" in Iraq, he urged 
US officials to be more tolerant. 
Asefi said that in today`s world, the outstanding feature of 
which is its modern means of communication, and where Americans 
themselves cry out for utmost freedom to disseminate news, the 
US should not lose its temper if the Iranian press and media use the 
means at their disposal to reflect the realities in Iraq. 
He said Iran has never lost its patience in the face of the most 
severe attacks by the US press and media. Hence, the Americans should 
also be patient and be ready to accept criticism for events which 
they are deemed to be accountable for in Iraq, he added. 
Commenting on the recent misnaming of the Persian Gulf in the 
latest world atlas of the National Geographic which calls it `Arabic 
Gulf` (but in parenthesis), the spokesman said that different walks of
people and groups both in and outside the country have fortunately 
detected the mistake. 
He said Iran`s representative office in New York is looking into 
the case and has found all relevant documents calling the waters off 
the southern coast of Iran the `Persian Gulf`. The deliberate mistake 
of the magazine will only discredit it, he added. 
Asked by a spokesman why Iran refuses to enter into talks with 
leading countries, he said that if the country referred to was the US 
then the answer is obvious: no talks for as long as "America is the 
root of all problems." 
Asefi stressed that Iran`s present attitude was due to the wrong 
policies of the US which has persuaded Iran to brush aside all 
attempts at rapprochement and instead enter into dialogues with other 
countries. 
As for the stadoff caused by the recent presidential elections in 
Ukraine, Asefi referred to it as an "internal affair" but hoped that 
the problem will be settled in the best way possible without the use 
of violence and with due respect for the votes of the Ukrainian 
people. 
Asked why the European countries involved in talks with Iran in 
Paris and Vienna have kept changing their draft resolution, Asefi 
explained that Tehran is not satisfied with the resolution because 
it violates its right under the IAEA treaty and believes it can still 
be improved. 
Touching upon the attitude of the newly arrived Canadian 
ambassador in Tehran who has put the case of Zahra Kazemi top on 
his agenda, Asefi stressed that the case is an "internal affair" 
which has nothing to do with Canadians. 
He said it is to be expected that an ambassador who has just 
arrived in a country with such an attitude will meet problems in his 
mission. 
He urged Canadians to stop intervening in the internal affairs of 
countries because past experience proves that Canada`s pressures will 
have no impact on the case. 
Referring to the next meeting of Iraq`s neighboring countries in 
Iran and its agenda, the foreign ministry spokesman described it as 
a very important event that will decide whether security, stability 
will ever be restored in the country and terrorism put to an end. 
He said that in the first place the Iraqi government should try 
to bring domestic forces under its control and check groups operating 
within its borders and, more important, restrict the entry of people 
across borders. 
He stressed that Iraq`s neighboring states including Iran should 
all assist that the Iraqi government come up to that goal. 
He believed that the problem has been created by the Americans 
themselves with their massacre of innocent people in Falluja. 
He expressed his opinion that the US could help settle the 
problem by respecting the desires of the Iraqi nation and 
acknowledging the realities in that country. 
Reuters asked the spokesman about the authenticity of a news story
in Germany`s Der Spiegel magazine that Iran has been building a secret
tunnel under its nuclear installations in Isfahan. 
His answer: "Lots of tunnels are being built across the 
country nowadays by the Ministry of Roads and Transportation." 
He referred to the magazine`s story as quite baseless and 
meaningless and said no tunnel of such enormity could ever be built 
secretly under the watchful eyes of radars. 
On prospects of the nuclear negotiations and Europe`s deadline 
for Iran to agree to the requested nuclear freeze of 20 centrifuges, 
he said a conclusion has to be reached which could come tonight. 
He hoped that the Europeans, too, will show the same flexibility 
so that the problem could be resolved. 
1424/2321/1432