Iran says new president won’t change nuclear policy

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran insisted on Tuesday its nuclear
policy would not change when hardline President-Elect Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad takes office next month.

European diplomats have expressed concern that the former
Revolutionary Guardsman will adopt a tougher line than outgoing
reformist President Mohammad Khatami, whose government has
sought to ease Western fears that Tehran is pursuing nuclear
weapons.

“Our macro policies are outlined by the Supreme Leader
(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and the government is obliged to
implement them,” Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told
ambassadors in Tehran.

“Therefore, some worries about changing those policies are
baseless. The new government, like Khatami’s government, will
follow the same route.

“One of those macro policies is our policy regarding the
nuclear issue. Khatami’s government has always insisted that
the use of peaceful nuclear technology is Iran’s obvious
right,” Kharrazi said.

During the presidential election campaign Ahmadinejad
criticized Iranian diplomats for taking a timid stance in
nuclear negotiations with the European Union.

Since his landslide election win on June 24 he has said he
will continue talks about Iran’s nuclear program with the EU.
But persistent rumors in official circles suggest that once he
takes office a new negotiating team will be put in place.

Iran, which denies U.S. accusations that it wants nuclear
technology to make bombs, has frozen sensitive work like
uranium enrichment while it tries to reach a deal with the EU
over its nuclear program.

Talks between the two sides are due to resume in August.

“We have no other plan but to use nuclear technology for
peaceful purposes,” Kharrazi said. “No power can force us to
abandon our legitimate, legal and obvious right to use peaceful
nuclear technology.”