S. Leader's Envoy at IRGC: Negotiation with US against people's will
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Qom, Dec 11, IRNA -- Representative of Supreme Leader at Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said here Monday negotiation with United States is retreating of people and leader and their yielding to enemy's will, despite the people's will.
According to IRNA, Hojjatoleslam Ali Sa'eidi who was speaking on Monday night at the First Conference of Friday Prayer Imams and Basij (mobilization force) Commanders at the Auditorium of Qom Seminary Teachers Association, added, 'The status of sanctions and the economic conditions of the country should not urge some people to argue that now that the United States is saying it is ready for negotiation, then we, too, must go for it.'
Referring to the characteristics of a pioneer and standard bearer nation, reiterating, 'One of those characteristics is to understand well the necessities of the time.'
Sa'eidi said, 'The enemy intends to drag us into its own café, but we have lots of strategic differences of opinion with the United States, including Hezbollah, Palestine, the Shi'a governance in Iraq, and the Bahrain issue, none of which can be solved in the framework of negotiations.'
He pointed out that heeding the ideals and objectives is another characteristic of a pioneer nation, reiterating, 'A nation should never forget the main mottoes for which it upraised and had a revolution.'
Hojjatoleslam Sa'eidi elsewhere in his address noted that had the Fajr-5 Missiles not been used in the recent Gaza defensive war the harmony and righteousness of the Iranian nation would not have been proved, adding, 'It was the very same Fajr-5 Missiles that made it possible for the Head of the Hamas Political Office (Khalid Mash'al) returned to Gaza after more than four decades of living in exile and we, too, shouted very loudly and clearly that it was our work.'
Sa'eidi also compared the emerged situation with the status quo of the Turkish Government and nation, reiterating, 'The Turkish Prime Minister (Recep Tayyip) Erdogan who had at a conference at least appeared to protest against the behavior of the Zionist regime, is now after stationing Patriot Missiles at the border of Turkey with Syria threatened by the German Foreign Minister (Guido Westerwelle) that he should not even orally object against the Zionist regime.'
He stressed, 'That is the difference between a pioneer and standard bearer nation and a nation whose leaders cannot let them to manifest their glorious hidden talents.'
Sa'eidi also considered choosing competent and proficient managers as another characteristic of the pioneer nations, adding, 'It does not suffice that only the leader would have the entire required qualifications, as the managers in lower levels, too, must have all those characteristics.'
Referring to the upcoming presidential elections, he said, 'We have two very important elections ahead; there are the councils' elections and the presidential election; there is the experience of three rounds of management of the technocrats, the reformers, and eleven years of fundamentalists before our eyes.'
He said that fundamentalism is a dynamic movement, adding, 'If there has been deficiencies in the behavior of certain individuals it should not be considered the deficiency of fundamentalism, or the entire fundamentalists.'
There are currently no formal diplomatic relations between Iran and the United States. Due to poor relations between the two countries, instead of exchanging ambassadors Iran maintains an interests section at the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., while the United States has maintained an interests section at the Swiss Embassy in Tehran.
Opinions differ over what has caused the decades of poor relations. Iranian explanations include everything from the natural and unavoidable conflict between the Islamic Revolution on the one hand, and perceived American arrogance and desire for global hegemony on the other.
Since 1995, the United States has had an embargo on trade with Iran.
Two days after Barak Obama was elected president in November 2008, the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued the first congratulatory message to a newly elected American president since 1979: 'Iran welcomes basic and fair changes in the United States' policies and conducts. I hope you will prefer real public interests and justice to the never-ending demands of a selfish minority and seize the opportunity to serve the people so that you will be remembered with high esteem'.
On March 19, 2009, the beginning of the Iranian New Year festival of Norouz, Obama spoke directly to the Iranian people in a video saying, 'The United States wants the Islamic Republic of Iran to take its rightful place in the community of nations. You have that right—but it comes with real responsibilities'.
A former Iranian nuclear negotiator, Seyyed Hossein Mousavian wrote an article in the National Interest on Monday December 10th, under the title 'Iran-U.S. Hostilities Must Stop', whose last paragraphs read:
… If the United States makes the right offer, it is possible to strike a deal that ensures Iran would remain free of nuclear weapons forever. However, Netanyahu continues to assert that Iran is determined to acquire a nuclear weapon and that the diplomatic track has failed. Such allegations are aimed at forcing the international community to decide whether to "bomb Iran" or live with an "Iranian bomb."—in this formulation, the only options are war or containment and deterrence. Both are terrible choices for the United States and the West.
The possibility for a diplomatic resolution is still high and needs to be given a chance. Iran is completely open to a maximum level of transparency with the IAEA and is willing to address all remaining issues, including the IAEA's concerns about "possible military dimensions" to Iran's nuclear program. Furthermore, Iran is ready to accept limits on its nuclear-power capacity, including a cap at a 5 percent level of enrichment. We should not let this opportunity for peaceful settlement become part of ever-growing pile of historical missed opportunities between Iran and the United States.
This realistic approach has a chance if the United States—and not Israel—leads on Iran. Just as the former US undersecretary of state for political affairs Nicholas Burns wrote in a recent op-ed in the Boston Globe, Washington should not "remain hostage to Prime Minister Netanyahu's increasingly swift timetable for action." Let us hope the new US president has this wisdom and capability.
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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 80450447
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