Former Speaker Warns Aliens against Interference in Iran's Affairs

TEHRAN (FNA)- Former Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Gholam Ali Haddad Adel called on certain western states to avoid meddling with Tehran's domestic affairs, warning that any such act would entail grave consequences for these states.


"They should be aware that their interference in Iran's internal affairs will incur heavy costs on them, and that if they intend to do so, they should pay the price," Haddad Adel stressed, speaking to reporters here in Tehran on Sunday.

He further underlined that enemies' threats would not influence the resolve of the Iranian nation, and reiterated, "We will not give up our rights as a result of the aliens' pressure and we insist on our independence."

He also pointed to the latest developments in Iran's nuclear case and the positions of the Group 5+1 - Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States plus Germany - on the issue, and said Tehran may not give up its nuclear rights and is pursuing the peaceful use of the nuclear technology.

Regarding the swap of nuclear fuel with the West, the lawmaker pointed out that Tehran is ready for trading the fuel, but under fair conditions, and that Iran will not bow to the western pressures.

Since the European governments have not kept their promises on several occasions, Iran has set some conditions in order to prevent a loss of its 3.5-percent enriched uranium in a possible swap of nuclear fuel with the West, Haddad Adel added.

"The West has no reason to put pressure on us for this logical measure (of ours)," he said.

After Iran announced to the IAEA that it had run out of nuclear fuel for its research reactor in Tehran, the Agency proposed a deal according to which Iran would send 3.5%-enriched uranium and receive 20%-enriched uranium from potential suppliers in return, all through the UN nuclear watchdog agency.

The proposal was first introduced on October 1, when Iranian representatives and diplomats from the five permanent UN Security Council members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States - plus Germany held high-level talks in Geneva.

But France and the United States, as potentials suppliers, stalled the talks soon after the start. They offered a deal which would keep Tehran waiting for months before it can obtain the fuel, a luxury of time that Iran cannot afford as it is about to run out of 20-percent-enriched uranium.

The Iranian lawmakers rejected the deal after technical studies showed that it would only take two to three months for any country to further enrich the nuclear stockpile and turn it into metal nuclear rods for the Tehran Research Reactor, while suppliers had announced that they would not return fuel to Iran any less than seven months.

Iran then put forward its own proposal that envisages a two-staged exchange. According to Tehran's offer, the IAEA safeguards nearly one third of Iran's uranium stockpile inside the Iranian territory for the time that it takes to find a supplier.

The western countries and the IAEA have not yet provided a response to Iran's latest proposal.

Iranian officials warned the quadruple Vienna group (IAEA, the US, Russia and France) that if they refrain from providing Iran with nuclear fuel for its research reactor, the country would resort to domestic plans to produce the fuel inside the country.