Rouhani for ‘meaningful’ N-talks

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 25: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has offered to find a framework to manage differences with the US, saying he is prepared to engage in “time-bound and results-oriented” nuclear talks. Iran poses “absolutely no threat to the world”, he told the UN General Assembly on Tuesday hours after US President Barack Obama asked his secretary of state to hold talks with the Iranian leadership in New York. President Rouhani reiterated that Iran had the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear programme, including the enrichment of uranium. He said nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction had no place in the Iranian doctrine and that international sanctions had hurt Iran’s economy and the Iranian people. He said he “listened carefully” to Mr Obama’s speech, adding he was hopeful that the two sides could pursue diplomacy, but only if the US government spoke with “a consistent voice”. “[If] they will refrain from following the short-sighted interest of war-mongering pressure groups, we can arrive at a framework to manage our differences. “The weapons of mass destruction have no place in Iran’s security and defence doctrine, and contradict our fundamental religious and ethical convictions,” he said. President Rouhani criticised international sanctions against Iran. “Sanctions, beyond any and all rhetoric, cause belligerence, war-mongering and human suffering,” he said. “These sanctions are violent, pure and simple,” he told the assembly, adding that ordinary citizens rather than political elites were the true victims. “Unjust sanctions, as manifestation of structural violence, are intrinsically inhumane and against peace. And contrary to the claims of those who pursue and impose them, it is not the states and the political elite that are targeted, but rather, it is the common people who are victimised by these sanctions,” he said. HOLOCAUST CONDEMNED: The Iranian president condemned the Holocaust as “reprehensible”, in a new sign of a radical change. “Any crime that happens in history against humanity, including the crime the Nazis created towards the Jews, is reprehensible and condemnable,” he told CNN in an interview. “Whatever criminality they committed against the Jews we condemn. The taking of human life is contemptible,” he said. “It makes no difference whether that life is Christian, Jewish or Muslim. For us it is the same,” added Mr Rouhani. US officials said they had offered to set up an informal meeting between Presidents Obama and Rouhani, but that this had proved “too complicated” for the Iranians. Diplomats at the UN expressed the hope that the two leaders would meet but both did not cross paths at any stage steering away from any such meetings where there was any chance of shaking hands. US and Iranian leaders have not met in 36 years.