Iranian President terms US report as positive
Middle East Desk Report

TEHRAN (Iran)—President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday called a U.S. intelligence report concluding Iran stopped developing its nuclear weapons program four years ago a “step forward” in comments that marked a change from his usually harsh anti-Western rhetoric.
The hard-line leader told reporters that an “entirely different” situation between the two countries could be created if more steps like the intelligence report followed. “We consider this measure by the U.S. government a positive step. It is a step forward,” Ahmadinejad said.
“If one or two other steps are taken, the issues we have in front of us will be entirely different and will lose their complexity, and the way will be open for the resolution of basic issues in the region and in dealings between the two sides,” he said. Iran has said its nuclear program is peaceful, but until last week, the United States and Western allies had countered that Iran was hiding plans for a bomb.
The latest U.S. intelligence assessment on Iran, however, says Tehran once had a weapons program but shelved it in 2003. The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate was in stark contrast to a 2005 estimate that said Tehran was continuing its weapons development. When asked about what other steps Washington needs to take, Ahmadinejad suggested that one would be for the U.S. to “make a serious change in position in the region.”
“Regional nations have rights and want to fully use their rights. Respecting these rights is a serious change in strategy. This is the next step. If it is done, then you will see that ... it is not that a 60-year issue can’t be resolved,” he said referring to an Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
He repeated a previous invitation to President Bush for a public debate and said Iran was studying requests from U.S. officials to come to Iran. He did not elaborate. “Many requests reach us from American officials for dialogue and travel to Iran. We are investigating,” Ahmadinejad said.
But he also made clear that any more economic sanctions against Iran would have “no legal leg” to stand on.
On Tuesday, diplomats from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany are to discuss a draft plan for new United Nations sanctions against Iran. If passed by the Security Council, the plan would slap a third round of sanctions on Iran for defying international demands that it halt its enrichment of uranium.
“The agency report and the NIE are before the eyes of the international public opinion. There is no reason for the continuation of enmities and hostilities. The threats failed, they were not effective,” he said.
An Iranian exile group accused Tehran on Tuesday of pursuing efforts to develop nuclear weapons, dismissing as incomplete a U.S. intelligence report that Iran’s nuclear arms program was frozen in 2003.
Sixteen U.S. intelligence agencies concluded in a comprehensive study published on December 3 that Iran had stopped activities aimed at making nuclear weapons in 2003, though it continues to enrich uranium for nuclear fuel. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which first exposed Iran’s nuclear fuel program in 2002, said it published information three years ago alleging that Tehran had restarted weapons-related work after a short break.
NCRI officials said they checked back with sources inside Iran after the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) was released, and those informants reported that work on nuclear weapons was still being pursued at three sites.
“The clerical regime is continuing its drive to obtain nuclear weapons,” Mohammad Mohaddessin of the France-based group, listed as a terror organization in the United States, told a news conference in Brussels.
The NIE report concluded that Iran had not restarted its nuclear weapons program as of mid-2007.