Iranian president criticizes unilateral sanctions against Tehran

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani criticized on Saturday the unilateral Western sanctions against the Islamic republic over the country's controversial nuclear program. Making the remarks in a meeting with Giulio Haas, the new Swiss ambassador to Tehran, Rouhani expressed his country's political will to pursue a win-win game following the latest round of talks between Iran and six major world powers over Tehran's nuclear work, according to Press TV. Expressing hope that "effective" measures would lead to the ease of sanctions and the resolution of relevant issues, he said that "The Islamic Republic of Iran will make every effort to declare to the international community that all of the country's activities are in line with (international) regulations." Also, a senior Iranian lawmaker said that the West should take major steps to ease "completely illegal" sanctions against Iran, Press TV reported on Saturday. "If new steps are to be taken (by Iran) while it is still under sanction pressures, it will definitely be unacceptable because confidence-building is a two-way street," Chairman of the Majlis ( parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted by Press TV as saying. As a confidence-building measure, Iran has never had any problems with the inspection to its nuclear facilities and the country's nuclear sites have always been under the supervision of the United Nations nuclear watchdog (IAEA), said Boroujerdi. Iran has offered further transparency over its nuclear issue and, in line with this, the Islamic republic is considering to implement additional protocol to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which would oblige the country to open its nuclear sites for snap visits by UN inspectors. In return, Tehran anticipates the ease of international and Western sanctions which have hit the economy of the country. On Saturday, the vice chairman of national security and foreign policy commission of Iran's Majlis also emphasized that the Iranian parliament will consider reviewing the additional protocol provided that all of the sanctions against Iran would be lifted. "The West should build necessary confidence and lift all the sanctions, and after that we can start to discuss additional protocol in the parliament," Mansour Haqiqatpour was quoted as saying by semi-official Mehr news agency. Iran and the P5+1 countries -- the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia plus Germany -- held a fresh round of talks in Geneva earlier this week and agreed to meet again in Geneva on Nov. 7-8. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, said Saturday that recent Geneva nuclear talks were a new chapter in talks between Iran and the P5+1 aimed at ending the impasse over Tehran's nuclear program. Describing Iran's proposal as comprehensive, Afkham said the offer protects all the nuclear rights of the Islamic republic and provides an opportunity to prove the futility of the West's " pressure and negotiation approach," according to Press TV. "Iran entered the talks to reach an agreement," said Afkham, adding that confidence-building and cooperation as well as providing grounds for achieving mutual understanding would become possible through taking balanced steps by both sides. Besides, Iran's nuclear negotiator Abbas Araqchi said Saturday that a "serious agreement" is the main goal of talks with the six major world powers over the country's nuclear energy program. Araqchi added that the contents of the Geneva talks would remain confidential in order to achieve a better result. Iranian officials have also warned against any moves by the " enemies" which might ruin the "positive spirit" of the nuclear talks. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad-Javad Zarif said Israel was seeking to sabotage the nuclear talks between his country and world powers, Press TV reported on Saturday. The minister said Israel feared success of the talks between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1) and that there is a possibility that "they make efforts to disrupt the negotiations." He denounced what he called the Israeli media hype about Iran's nuclear program as a "sign of frustration of the warmonger." Member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Mohammad-Hassan Asafari, said Saturday that Iran's active participation in the meeting with the P5+1 in Geneva disappointed Israel and isolated the Zionist regime, official IRNA news agency reported. Israel tried to promote Iranophobia to isolate the country but to no avail, he said. The Israeli government has expressed its skepticism about Iran' s move to settle its problem with the powers over its nuclear program, which the West deems to be aiming at create nuclear weapons.