20-11-2013, 10:02 AM
This is new.
Quote:Iran releases video explaining position on nuclear energyhttp://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=649017Published yesterday (updated) 19/11/2013 23:45BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif released a video on Tuesday explaining Iran's position on the country's nuclear energy program ahead of negotiations on Wednesday.
A screenshot from the video shows Zarif walking through the IranianTweet
Foreign Ministry building in Tehran. (MaanImages/Youtube)
The video was released in five languages on Zarif's personal Youtube page, and it comes as the foreign minister headed to Italy to meet with leaders there.
"Free will is in our being, in our DNA, and it has been the essence of the collective demand of us Iranians for the past century. We have repeatedly joined hands to stand up against tyranny, demanding respect for our free will," he said, stressing that "Iranians are no different from any other people on this planet we share."
His trip immediately precedes negotiations in Geneva on Wednesday, when an Iranian delegation will meet with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (Russia, China, France, Britain and US) as well as Germany in attempt to clinch a deal that would legitimize Iran's civilian nuclear energy program and end the confrontation that has resulted from its pursuit of nuclear power.
"For us Iranians, nuclear energy is not about joining a club or threatening others. Nuclear energy is about a leap, a jump toward deciding our own destiny, rather than allowing others to decide for us," he said.
"For us, nuclear energy is about securing the future of our children, about diversifying our economy, about stopping the burning of our oil, and about generating clean power," he added, stressing the economic and ecological benefits of nuclear power for Iran.
"It (nuclear energy) is about the Iranian nation moving forward forward as an equal in a new realm defined by peace, by prosperity, by progress," he added.
He also spoke at length about the potential for peace and dialogue for defusing the West's historic rejection of Iran's right to a nuclear program.
"The choice is not submission or confrontation. This past summer the Iranian people chose constructive engagement through the ballot box. And through this, they gave the world a historic opportunity to change course," referring to the election of President Rouhani in the Iranian elections, a choice many hailed as a sign that Iranians were interested in engaging in renewed negotiations with the West.
"To seize this historic opportunity we need to accept equal footing, and choose a path based on mutual respect and recognition of dignity of all peoples."
"And more so, on the recognition that no power, however strong, can determine the fate of others. This is no longer an option," he added.
"The Iranian people are determined to explore this path. Join us in ending an unnecessary crisis and opening new horizons," he said, addressing his audience in English with French, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian subtitles.
The video's release follows the failure of the last round of negotiations earlier in November to achieve a substantial result, despite indications that a deal was nearly clinched.
Israel has repeatedly warned world powers not to engage in negotiations with Iran, and is widely suspected of having reached out to the US, France, and other parties to the negotiations to urge them to refuse any potential deal. Israel suspects that Iran will use its civilian nuclear energy program to develop nuclear weapons, a prospect it strongly opposes.
Israel has the Middle East's only nuclear weapons arsenal, while Iran has stressed that it categorically opposes nuclear weapons and has repeatedly called for a nuclear weapons free zone across the region.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has instead called for more sanctions to be imposed on Iran.
The United States and the European Union have imposed increasingly harsh rounds of sanctions on Iran in the last few years that have affected all sectors of the country's economy.
The sanctions have precipitated an economic and humanitarian crisis in Iran, with wide-ranging effects on the civilian population that include medicine shortages, a currency collapse, and the isolation of the country's banks from the global financial system.
Nearly two thirds of Israeli Jews oppose a deal being reached between world powers and Iran on Tehran's controversial nuclear program, a survey in Israel Hayom said on Friday.
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"He would, wouldn't he?" Mandy Rice-Davies. When asked in court whether she knew that Lord Astor had denied having sex with her.
“I think it would be a good idea” Ghandi, when asked about Western Civilisation.