Ahmadinejad: Iran ready for talks
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Iran has always been ready to discuss issues as long as they are within the legal framework and based on "principles of justice and respect," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in an interview with ABC television's " This Week" program which was broadcast Sunday.
"We have a plan to discuss things, to discuss issues," the president said when asked whether he is going to have a meeting with the United States in the P5-plus-one on the nuclear issue.
U.S. Department of State said officials from the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France -- the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany, will hold talks on Iranian nuclear issue next week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. The group is known as the P5-plus-one.
"We're always prepared to talk, but under fair conditions and respectful conditions," Ahmadinejad said. "If somebody thinks that they can, like, order us around or rule us and talk -- call it a talk, that wouldn't work. But if they are ready to sit down, respect the law, be fair and just, we're always prepared to talk."
He claimed that all nuclear activities in Iran are "being controlled by cameras," material that is moved is weighed, examined and controlled. "So as far as the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is concerned, there's no blockage of that supervision."
IAEA Director-General Yukiya Amano last week accused Iran of not fully cooperating with the UN watchdog and banning two nuclear inspectors from entering the country this summer.
Ahmadinejad charged that some inspectors had released nuclear information provided by Iran, which is "illegal." "The IAEA is required by a statute to protect that information, not to release it," he added. "And plus, the IAEA is aware of several other violations that they have permitted."
"Now, we believe that the United States is pressing the IAEA to take a political position on the issue," the president said. "Once the IAEA does that, its worth becomes worthless and ineffective."
He dismissed as "meaningless" sanctions imposed on Iran, saying "We do take sanctions seriously, but taking it seriously is different from believing that they are effective. These are two different issues."
The Security Council adopted a resolution June 9 to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its suspected nuclear program. The United States and some of its allies have imposed their own new sanctions against Iran since.
"We consider this and have recorded it as a serious violation of international law, it was illegal, it was wrong," Ahmadinejad said. "It wronged the people of Iran by insulting them, and these sanctions will definitively mark a new level of progress in our economy. We have turned sanctions around and created opportunities out of this."
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