Iran's newly-appointed nuclear energy chief is calling for an end tohostilities between his country and the West, and renewed efforts tobuild trust.
Iraniangovernment TV says that the country's new nuclear energy chief, AliAkbar Salehi is urging the West to end hostilities with Tehran and tostart building trust.
"Legal and technical discussions aboutIran's nuclear case have finished," he insists, "and there is no roomleft to keep this case open."
"We hope," he added, "that moreefforts will be made [by the West] to obtain mutual confidence, insteadof the last six years of hostility."
They were Salehi's firstcomments to the media, since being appointed by President MahmoudAhmedinejad, Friday, following the resignation of veteran nuclearnegotiator Gholam Reza Aghazadeh.
The soft-spoken Salehi waseducated at the American University of Beirut and holds a doctoratefrom the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Salehi is Iran's formerenvoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency and signed a protocolallowing for freer inspections of Iran's nuclear sites. His appointmentappears to be something of a gesture to the U.S.
Neither theU.S., nor the other members of the so-called Group of five-plus-one, includingthe five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, plusGermany, however, are likely to agree with Salehi about the closure ofTehran's nuclear file.
U.S. President Barack Obama warnedTehran, during the G-8 summit in Italy, that the world is giving ituntil September to comply with U.N. resolutions over its controversialnuclear program.
Iran has persistently refused to stop enrichinguranium, and the West fears that it will use highly enriched uranium tobuild atomic weapons.
The Iranian government, however, continuesto insist that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful, civilianpurposes, alone.
Iran analyst Meir Javedanfar of the MEEPAS (Middle East Economic and Political Analysis) center in Tel Aviv argues that Tehran is hardening its position over its nuclear dossier, in response to Western criticism over its violent crackdown against its own people following the June 12 presidential elections.
"I think Ayatollah Khamenei is sending the messagethat the more we are pushed on other fronts, the more we're going toadjust the balance in our favor, and one area is the nuclear program,because Khamenei knows how important the nuclear program is to theWest, especially to President Obama," he said.
"So, I thinkthis is kind of a backlash against what Iran sees as Westerninterference in its own affairs. I also think that the Iraniangovernment still sees the West as divided and there's not much the Westcan do at the moment to stop Iran's nuclear program, so they'retoughening their policy and they want to see what the reaction will be,if the reaction is going to be hard or if the West is going to come upwith an even [better] offer," he added.
Javedanfar, however,believes that those who are seeking a compromise with Iran should notdespair completely, because Iranian leaders are pragmatists, and may atthe end of the day be ready for an agreement.
Iranian ForeignMinister Manuchehr Motaki said one week ago that Tehran was preparingto present a "new package" of proposals, concerning what he called"international, security and political issues," to the West for talks.
Iran'sSupreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also warned the West thatTehran would weigh their criticism over its crackdown on protestersfollowing the June 12 election, in assessing future relations withtheir countries.