Related: Rouhani's Remarks
"New Iranian president says he’s open to nuclear talks; Stresses support at home, dismisses effect of sanctions" by Rick Gladstone | New York Times, August 06, 2013
Iran’s new president said Tuesday that his country does not threaten anyone....
The president, Hasan Rouhani, also said Iran’s program of uranium enrichment has strong popular domestic support, countering some rumblings within Iran that the pain inflicted by Western economic sanctions wasn’t worth the cost of maintaining the program.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful, but the United States, members of the European Union, Israel, and many other countries suspect Iran wants to achieve the capability for nuclear weapons.
Rouhani made the assertions in a series of Twitter messages sent via his official English-language account during a news conference in Tehran, his first since taking the oath of office Saturday.
Cool. He knows US intelligence is collecting it.
Rouhani said his election victory on June 14 should be interpreted by the world, including the United States, as a significant message. Rouhani defeated a slate of far more conservative candidates....
“What should America do? Hear voice and message of our people,” Rouhani said in one Twitter post. “We want the White House to get out of this situation and see the facts accordingly,” he said in another.
Using the colloquial shorthand common in Twitter, he also said: “Provided that our natl interests are met, we have no problems w negotiations w any1 w good intentions, incl US.”
Referring to the stalled negotiations with the five permanent members of the Security Council — Britain, China, France, Russia, and the United States — plus Germany, over enrichment, he said: “Iran’s determination to resolve nuclear issue & concerns are serious.”
He said nothing, however, about what Iran was specifically prepared to do.
The Obama administration has expressed hope that Rouhani’s election could lay the basis for progress over the nuclear dispute. At the same time, Congress has intensified the sanctions pressure on Iran. Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that could, if enacted and fully enforced, effectively stop Iran’s oil exports.
With one notable exception.
Btw, an oil embargo on Iranian oil is an act of war!
On Monday, 76 senators said President Obama should toughen the sanctions against Iran even as it pursues negotiations.
WOW! They really snap into line when Israel barks!
Referring to the sanctions, Rouhani said in one Twitter post: “We don’t want to see continuation of language of pressure, or carrot and stick, we never liked that idea and still don’t.”
Neither do I.
--more--"
Also see:
"Next month, Senator Lindsey Graham plans to file a bill seeking authorization for the use of military force. The more Americans talk of war,
the faster the Iranians build their centrifuges. It doesn’t take a
rocket scientist to understand why. We invaded Iraq, a country that
didn’t have a bomb, but left nuclear-armed North Korea alone.
Wow, someone finally figured out the villain's mode of operation!
Every time I hear talk of military strikes on Iran, I think of the 15th annual Press and Media Festival. I wonder how the people I met there are faring, now that their currency lost half its value.
Ah, a HUMAN FACE of the "ENEMY!"
I think of the day I visited the Milad Tower, one of the tallest buildings in the world. Tehran,
a megacity of 18 million people, sprawled out to the horizon. Down
below, mothers and fathers sat in traffic, teenagers drank non-alcoholic
lemon beer in hookah bars. They were ordinary people, not so different
than you and me, living their lives and hoping for a better future."
