QUESTION TIME – IRAN AND NUCLEAR ISSUES

“Iran never intends to acquire such nuclear weapons”

- Mohammad Khatami, former President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1997-2005)

 Iran’s nuclear issue dominated a gripping session, with former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami clearly relishing an open debate with senior political figures from Russia, the United States and Kazakhstan.

 He appeared relaxed sitting with Richard Holbrooke, a former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, former Russian Prime-Minister Eugenie Primakov and Kazakhstan’s ex-Foreign Minister, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

Asked what could be done to allay international tension triggered by concern that Iran’s nuclear programme could lead to the production of nuclear weapons, Khatami said: “Iran never intends to acquire such nuclear weapons”.

 “There is no programme for that, only for the legitimate right to have nuclear materials for fuel,” he said through an interpreter. “If there is any concern, we can solve it with negotiations.”

 The session was held in the month that Iran’s ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who described the Nazi Holocaust as a “myth”, said that Iran could now produce nuclear fuel on an industrial scale.

 Khatami said that as a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Iran had a legitimate right to nuclear technology. “Many other countries have the right to such technology. Oil will finish one day and fossil fuel bases will disappear one day,” he said.

 “We all have common threats. At the same time, there are common solutions. The most difficult problem for humankind is a lack of security, not just in the developing world but also in New York, Madrid, Paris and London.

 “There is no other way but dialogue to isolate extremism in East and West,” he declared.

 Khatami said there were people in both the U.S. and Iran who never wanted good relations between the two countries. “If there was more tension, this would be a big loss for Iran… (They) should understand reality and not push the world to more anguish and slaughter.”

 Holbrooke, a two-time Assistant Secretary of State in Democratic administrations, played down the possibility of his country using force against Iran. “All dialogue is good,” he said. “Talk means listening. We listen carefully to what Iran says.

 “On the question of nuclear weapons, I noted the statement that Iran does not intend to have nuclear weapons.

 “Many people in the world are concerned that this is not the case. There is suspicion of Iran’s true intentions. The way to deal with those suspicions is to comply with the U.N. Security Council conditions. We believe we should have a dialogue with Iran but would question whether Iran wants a dialogue with us,” he said.

 Referring to Ahmadinejad’s comments on the Holocaust, Holbrooke suggested the Iranian president should send a delegation of Iranians to the death camps and also to the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel.

 Looking at Khatami, he said: “Nothing has done more damage to your country than your president’s comments. They have been inexplicable… You have to start with facts.”

 Khatami said later in the same session: “The Holocaust is a reality, one of the saddest realities of history, one of the most terrible disasters, committed by Nazi Germany in the Second World War, whose victims included many non-Jews.

 “It is an example of ethnic cleansing that must be condemned, together with all forms of anti-Semitism,” he declared.

 On the nuclear issue, former Russian Prime Minister Eugenie Primakov said he believed Iran “does not have any intention of acquiring nuclear weapons” but wanted to reach a level where its nuclear process can be used for both energy and weapons.

 “Right now, what can Iran do with its nuclear weapons?  Destroy Iraq?  I don’t think they will do this.  If they hit Israel they will destroy the whole of Palestine.  But Iran does not behave in a very smart way as for tactics.

 “Its non-cooperation with IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) creates a certain amount of suspicion… As for applying force against Iran, we are categorically against that.

 “If, God forbid, force is used against Iran it will be much worse than in Iraq. Iran would be destabilized until the end of the century. Other forces would be drawn in and the whole world would be affected. Who needs this?” Primakov added.

 Tokayev, now Chairman of Kazakhstan’s Senate of the Parliament, said the issue was “of great concern to Kazakhstan”, which neighbours Iran across the Caspian Sea.

 “We believe Iran has a legitimate right to its own (nuclear) programme for peaceful purposes, provided it is more transparent and more understandable to the U.N. as a whole. We believe there should be sincere dialogue,” Tokayev said.

 Referring to Kazakhstan’s own experience, he said: “We did not have any worries about giving up nuclear weapons.  We realised then that there would be no other way out if we were to be treated as a civilised country.”

 Kazakhstan, now seeking to chair the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), had the world’s fourth largest nuclear arsenal after the Soviet Union collapsed. By mid-1995 all nuclear weapons were out of the country.

 OSCE Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut said there was a commitment among all the organisation’s 56 member states on non-proliferation. He spoke of the value of continued dialogue among all participating countries on any issue that was raised.

 Holbrooke, asked if China could play a role in talks with Iran as it had done with North Korea on that country’s nuclear weapons programme, said: “I hope they will. I think your point is significant. China has been critically important in moves in North Korea.”

 Khatami said the comparison of Iran and North Korea was “terribly wrong” because North Korea “had a nuclear weapon test and they have the capability of making them. Iran can complete a nuclear fuel cycle and enrich uranium, which is just proper for the nuclear power plans. Iran has no arms to be destroyed.”

 Asked if he agreed with “many people” that the Iranian nuclear issue was an internal affair, Khatami said: “We should be very careful of the existence of nuclear weapons.”

 Khatami then quoted Albert Einstein’s reply when asked what kind of weapons would be used in a Third World War. It was:

 “I don’t know what kind of weapons will be used in the Third World War, assuming there will be a Third World War. But I can tell you what the Fourth World War will be fought with – stone clubs.”

 Khatami said: “First, we have to start with the Middle East as a nuclear free zone because it is a crisis-ridden region… In order to remove arms we have to respect every country’s legitimate rights and do our best to eradicate poverty.”

 He related how an American lady in Alexandria, Egypt, had asked him a few weeks earlier if he had a message for the American people.

 It was: “America is a big country and a great civilisation. Please, people of the United States, advise your politicians against such mis-policies as Iraq. The world needs the potential and greatness of the United States.”