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'Peaceful program.' Salehi
Photo: Reuters

Iran says seeks engagement on its nuclear policy

At disarmament conference, FM Salehi accuses West of double standards for backing Israel. Amnesty: Iran escalating crackdown on dissent

Iran said on Tuesday there were two ways of dealing with its "peaceful nuclear program," either engagement or confrontation, but that it preferred cooperation.

 

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In a speech to the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament, Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi accused the West of double standards for supporting Israel, the only Middle East state that is outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

 

"We have clearly stated time and time again there are two alternatives in dealing with the Iranian peaceful nuclear program. One way is engagement, cooperation and interaction. The other is confrontation and conflict," Salehi said.

 

"...Iran is confident of the peaceful nature of its program and has always insisted on the first alternative. When it comes to our relevant rights and obligations, our consistent position is that Iran does not seek confrontation, nor does it want anything beyond its inalienable, legitimate rights."

 

Meanwhile, human rights group Amnesty International said on Tuesday that Iran has "dramatically escalated" a crackdown on dissent in the run-up to this week's parliamentary elections, arresting lawyers, students and journalists and targeting electronic media.

"In Iran today you put yourself at risk if you do anything that might fall outside the increasingly narrow confines of what the authorities deem socially or politically acceptable," said Ann Harrison, an Amnesty Middle East expert.

 

"Anything from setting up a social group on the internet, forming or joining an NGO (non-governmental organisation), or expressing your opposition to the status quo can land you in prison," she said in a statement.

 

Friday's election is the first nationwide vote since the disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that sparked eight months of unrest and a crushing state response.

 

The vote is likely to highlight the popularity of the clerical establishment as it stands firm against Western pressure to curb its nuclear work.

 

Amnesty said in a report that Iranian authorities had steadily cranked up repression of dissent in the last year, launching a wave of arrests in recent months.

 

The arrests have targeted a range of groups, including lawyers, students, journalists, political activists and their relatives, religious and ethnic minorities, filmmakers, and people with international connections, it said.

 

Amnesty said the crackdown "laid bare the hollowness of Iran's claims to support protests in the Middle East and North Africa."

 

The clampdown has targeted electronic media, seen by Iranian authorities as a major threat, the rights groups said.

 

 

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.28.12, 13:15
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