President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presents Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with a report on the 'achievements' of
his government over the past eight years, at a ceremony on
Monday. It was the last meeting of Ahmadinejad's cabinet.
Leaders Hope Rohani Inaugural Brings Shift
in United States (Kayhan, Iran)
According to this news item from Iran's state-run Kayhan, a slightly
more conciliatory-sounding Supreme Leader Khamenei has again expressed doubts
about America's trustworthiness, President Ahmadinejad is blaming Iran's poor economic
performance on U.S.-led sanctions, and senior leaders all seem to hope that the
inaugural of President-elect Hassan Rohani on August
4 will bring a change in how America and the West treat Iran.
TEHRAN:
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that
without prohibiting talks with the U.S., he urges caution, describing the
American government as untrustworthy.
America
and Iran are deeply divided over Tehran's nuclear program, and the U.S. and West
have imposed punishing sanctions to press Iran to stop enriching uranium.
"I
said earlier this year that I'm not optimistic about talks with the U.S.,"
said the leader, "although in recent years, I did not prohibit dialogue on
specific issues like Iraq. ... Americans are untrustworthy and illogical. They
are not honest in their dealings," the leader told outgoing President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad and other senior government officials in Tehran. He also said that
unless Iran determines the goals of its adversaries, it will suffer the
consequences.
"We have
always believed, and continue to believe, in interacting with the world. The most
important point, however, is to understand the other party and determine its
goals and tactics, because if we don't it will trip us up," Ayatollah
Khamenei said.
"The
art of interacting with the world is to continue on your path without other
parties being able to stop you. If interacting with the world brings retreat
from the path, that is a loss," the leader said.
President-elect
Hassan Rohani, President Ahmadinejad, and Majlis Speaker
Ali Larijani, were among those present at the event,
at which Ahmadinejad presented an outline of his government's eight-year
performance, saying he considers himself indebted to the Islamic Revolution.
The
president said a series of factors [negatively] impacted his government's
performance, citing the global economic crisis, oil price declines and economic
sanctions.
Touching
on the global economic crisis that began in 2007, President Ahmadinejad said that
Western countries tried to inject several trillion dollars to thwart the
recession in their countries, shifting it to others.
"Of
course, the Iranian nation has been under foreign pressure, especially by
the U.S. government. Clearly, however, the scale and magnitude of the pressure over recent years has been unprecedented."
He
said the Central Bank of Iran and other Iranian banks, its insurance industry,
oil, petrochemical, energy and transportation sectors, precious metals, high-tech
manufacturing, the technical and engineering services, are all subject to
sanctions.
These
factors have resulted at least a 50-percent reduction in oil sales and income,
to say nothing of trade barriers and foreign exchange transfer constraints, he
added.
President-elect
Hassan Rohani, who won a landslide victory in the
June 14 presidential election, will be sworn in on Aug. 4. Iran has sent
invitations to world leaders to attend his inauguration. Rohani's
election has revived hopes for easing tensions with the West as well as
possible direct talks with the United States.
On
Monday [July 29], Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi
said that once Rohani takes office early next month, Iran
hopes the West shifts from confrontation to cooperation and interaction with
the Islamic Republic.
In
a meeting with Germany's new ambassador to Tehran, Michael Freiherr
von Ungern-Sternberg, Salehi
accepted his credentials and recognized that Germany is an “important and
influential” state within Europe and the international community. He lauded
good political relations with Germany, noting that there is enormous potential
for the two sides to improve relations - particularly in the economic and trade
sectors.
Posted By Worldmeets.US
“Iran
has a looking forward to cooperation with Europe and particularly Germany on political,
security, economic, trade and energy issues,” the Iranian foreign minister
pointed out.
The
German ambassador, for his part, noted Iran’s culture and history as well as
its influence on regional and global stability and security. He expressed hope
that after Rohani’s inauguration, Tehran and Berlin
would expand relations, particularly in the economic and trade sectors
Majlis
National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Chairman Hussein Naqavi-Husseini said a letter by 100 U.S. lawmakers sent to the
White House calling for diplomacy with Iran was a “positive step,” but that Washington
has to drop its hostility.
“We
regard the action by U.S. lawmakers as a positive one, but believe that more such steps must
be made before the U.S. wins the trust of the Iranian nation,” Naqavi-Husseini's spokesman said on Monday. Until Washington rethinks its hostile policies and takes “hundreds” of additional
positive steps, he said Iran cannot consider talks with the U.S.
