Iran will not build nuclear weapons, says Rouhani (this is a BFD)

[morningfog]

WASHINGTON - Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that his government won’t build any nuclear weapons, as speculation grew here that President Barack Obama may hold direct talks with the new Iranian leader on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York.

In an interview in Tehran with NBC News, a leading American television network, Rouhani, who has struck a moderate tone, reiterated Iran’s stance that “under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever.”

“We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb, and we are not going to do so,” he said. “We solely are looking for peaceful nuclear technology.”

“In its nuclear program, this government enters with full power and has complete authority,” Rouhani said.“The problem won’t be from our side. We have sufficient political latitude to solve this problem.”

Both and Obama will address the General Assembly in New York on September 24th.

White House officials said Obama currently has no planned meeting with President Rouhani. But the two sides have communicated ahead of what diplomats could be the first face-to-face interaction between an American President and a Iranian President.

Relations are so poor, officials said, that even a handshake would mark a significant turning point.

No American President has met a top Iranian leader since Islamic radicals overthrew the pro-American Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/national/20-Sep-2013/iran-will-not-build-nuclear-weapons-says-rouhani

ETA a great quote from Rouhani: “We consider war a weakness. Any government or administration that decides to wage a war, we consider a weakness. And any government that decides on peace, we look on it with respect to peace.”

[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Apparently not a BFD here on DU tonight.

[morningfog]

3. If nothing else, DU is consistent in running hot and cold.

[DURHAM D]

5. The story is from Ann Curry's interview

and was posted on DU yesterday -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014597902

However it did not seem to generate much response.

[Warpy]

2. Yes, it is

While most of the Ayatollahs and all of the nuclear scientists there said nuclear weapons were not being pursued, no one was completely sure about that as long as Ahmedinejad was the mouthpiece.

It seems like Rouhani is more in line with the majority of clerics and very much in line with the more liberal of them.

He's a gift, in other words, and I sincerely hope the rest of the world realizes it and relaxes some of the sanctions.

[Zynx]

4. It's time that the feuding ends.

It's only bred mistrust and hostility, as feuding always does. It takes one party to step forward and make positive gestures to get things moving constructively. Rouhani is doing that. I think it's worth discussing with Iran.

[Scurrilous]

6. K & R