Hassan Rowhani, Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator has taken the initiative and, while calling the president’s assertions on the subject to be “complete lies”, invited him to a debate on the nuclear issue. This comes as Ahmadinejad’s team has increased its attacks on the former nuclear negotiations team which has also turned into a key controversial and newsy issue in Iran.
It all began when Ahmadinejad claimed during his last provincial trip that the agreement that had been reached between the European troika and Iran which led to Iran's voluntary suspension of its enrichment program – in Iran known as the Saadabad agreement because it was signed in the Saadabad palace in Tehran – was “unilateral”, “imposed”, and “shameful.” He also claimed that the European had said, after the agreement, that Iran was done with, adding that the then prime minister of Britain had said in an interview that they had reaped the fruit of Iraq in Saadabad.
While some critics protested to Ahmadinejad for these remarks, saying that he made six mistakes, but he ignored these and in his first televised campaign speech again repeated the same fabrications. “On the nuclear issue, they [the nuclear negotiations team in Khatami’s administration that was led by Hassan Rowhani] accepted the worst imposed conditions. After that inappropriate agreement, it was announced that the fruit of Iraq had been reaped in Saadabad, and then they completed their plans in Paris and thus stopped the development of the Iranian nation and even ended nuclear and other related activities.”
It was after these remarks that Rowhani, Iran’s secretary of the country’s national Security Council personally intervened and blatantly called his remarks “complete lies” and then invited him to a debate on the nuclear issue.
Rowhani, who is now the director of the Center for Strategic Studies affiliated to the State Expediency Council led by Hashemi Rafsanjani, said, “If the respected president is willing to defend his remarks on the nuclear diplomacy of Iran, I am ready to have a debate with him on the subject to clarify the situation to public opinion.”
Talking to Mehr news agency, Rowhani further said, “It is unfortunate that a subject as important as nuclear technology which is the historic accomplishment of the Iranian nation and is beyond any specific government, has not turned into an election issue among political rivals.”
“Unfortunately most of the critical remarks that are made these days as part of presidential electioneering regarding the nuclear diplomacy of the state in 2003 and 2004 are inaccurate, unfair, and in some cases complete lies,” Rowhani affirmed.
Rowhani said that from another perspective, this issue was in fact distorting history, and disregarding the national interest of the country.
Referring to his reticence over these attacks on him, he said, “When the interest of the state and people were at stake, silence did not mean there were no answers or responses to the assertions. While I am ready to hold direct talks with the president in the national media should he be willing to defend his remarks on the nuclear diplomacy of the state in order clarify the public conscience and make historic realities transparent.”
Last Sunday, following claims made by Hassan Abbasi in Vatane Emrouz newspaper to the effect that Jack Straw (former British foreign minister) had said that Hassan Rowhani had promised him that suspension would continue for ten years, the Center for Strategic Studies led by Rowhani, issued a response to these claims stating that, “For the last time, we issue a warning to these government fiery centers that if they did not stop this unethical propaganda and do not stop using this important national interest issue which has been attained with great effort, we will be forced to expose and publish documents that we posses to clarify the realities and then the public would learn of the costs to the country for the unqualified activities of some officials in recent years.”
Should Ahmadinejad accept Rowhani’s invitation for a debate on the nuclear policies of Iran, the issue would be the main focus of all election debates and will have a determining impact on the outcome of the elections to be held on June 12th.