Updated at 4:15pm: Iranian President Hassan Rohani, in a television interview, said his country is not seeking war and that Iran wants the Middle East to have “rule by the will of the people.”
His response came during the second part of an interview with NBC News that aired on Thursday, just days before he travels to New York for an appearance at the United Nations.
The interview came as NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday he was very “encouraged” by Iran’s pledge not to seek nuclear weapons, saying a more open approach was in Tehran’s own best interest.
Rohani, asked about Israel, said: “What we wish for in this region is rule by the will of the people. We believe in the ballot box. We do not seek war with any country. We seek peace and friendship among the nations of the region.”
“What is important to Iran is that countries, people in the region grow closer and prevent aggression and injustice.”
While stressing the need to resolve international concerns over Iran’s contested nuclear program Rasmussen said that he had “been very encouraged by recent statements from the new Iranian leadership,” .
“I think it is in Iran’s own interest to engage with the international community,” he said, adding that if that is what Tehran is seeking, then “I can only welcome it.”
In the first portion of his interview with NBC News, Rohani said 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, according to the US network.
The United States, its Western allies and Israel fear that Iran’s nuclear program is ultimately intended to produce atomic weapons.
Iran maintains that its program is entirely for peaceful purposes.
Rohani, a mid-ranking cleric, won a surprise victory in the Islamic republic’s June presidential election.
He campaigned on relaxing social and cultural intolerance at home, engaging constructively with the international community and also on shoring up the ailing sanctions-hit economy.
During the interview, Rohani appeared to support lifting Iran’s Internet censorship, saying: “We want the people, in their private lives, to be completely free.”
“In today’s world, having access to information and the right of free dialogue and the right to think freely is a right of all peoples, including Iranians,” he said. “The people must have full access to all information worldwide.”
As part of that effort, the government plans to set up a commission for citizen’s rights in the near future, he said.
Reports also came on Wednesday night of the release of nearly a dozen political prisoners, including high-profile figures.
(Reuters, AFP, Al-Akhbar)
Source Article from http://english.al-akhbar.com/node/17069
