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Iran’s New President Says Nuclear Talks Could Succeed Iran President Says He Is Open to Nuclear Talks With U.S.
(about 5 hours later)
Iran’s new president said Tuesday that he was ready for serious negotiations with the big powers over the disputed Iranian nuclear program, adding that his country does not wish to threaten anyone and dismissing the American and European sanctions levied on Iran as counterproductive. TEHRAN — Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, on Tuesday used his first news conference to call for serious negotiations to solve the decade-long dispute over the country’s nuclear program and he repeatedly suggested openness to direct talks with the United States, an idea that until recently had been unthinkable for many years.
The president, Hassan Rouhani, also said Iran’s program of uranium enrichment had strong popular domestic support, countering some rumblings within Iran that the pain inflicted by Western economic sanctions was not worth the cost of maintaining the program. At the same time, Mr. Rouhani said that Americans needed to take the first step in the stalled nuclear negotiations, and he would not specify what his country would be prepared to do, if anything, in order to make those negotiations advance. While the tone of Mr. Rouhani’s remarks appeared more accommodating than that of his predecessor, he broke no new ground on Iran’s position regarding the nuclear dispute, the most serious international issue confronting the country.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is peaceful but the United States, members of the European Union, Israel and many other countries suspect that Iran wants to achieve the ability to make nuclear weapons. “As the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, I state that the Islamic republic system is very seriously determined to solve the nuclear issue. It will defend its people’s rights and at the same time will remove the concerns of the other party,” Mr. Rouhani said.
Mr. Rouhani made the assertions in a series of Twitter messages sent via his official English-language account during a news conference in Tehran, his first since taking the oath of office on Saturday. “What matters to us is a practical response from the U.S. government, not statements,” Mr. Rouhani said. “If we feel that the Americans are truly serious about resolving problems. Iran is serious in its will to resolve problems and dismiss worries. If they are serious too, naturally things will go ahead and we will see practical results.”
Mr. Rouhani said his election victory on June 14 should be interpreted by the world, including the United States, as a significant message. Mr. Rouhani defeated a slate of far more conservative candidates, including the hard-line nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, who made no progress under Mr. Rouhani’s predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Numerous times during the question-and-answer session, Mr. Rouhani made references to unspecified “warmongering pressure groups” which he accused of confusing the White House at the behest of an unidentified foreign country.
“What should America do? Hear voice and message of our people,” Mr. Rouhani said in one Twitter post. “We want the White House to get out of this situation and see the facts accordingly,” he said in another. Mr. Rouhani apparently was referring to pro-Israel advocates of strong sanctions against Iran that have publicly praised Congress in recent days for advancing legislation that would greatly intensify the economic consequences on Iran unless it halts uranium enrichment.
Using the colloquial shorthand common in Twitter, he also said: “Provided that our natl interests are met, we have no problems w negotiations w any1 w good intentions, incl US.” Israel’s government, which regards Iran as an existential threat, has accused the Iranians of working toward production of a nuclear weapon, an accusation they have repeatedly denied. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has described Mr. Rouhani as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing” and has asserted that Mr. Rouhani’s election on June 14 did not portend a policy change.
Referring to the stalled negotiations with the big powers, the five permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States — plus Germany, over enrichment, he said: “Iran’s determination to resolve nuclear issue & concerns are serious. If they are serious too, we will see results.” Mr. Rouhani never made any explicit reference to Israel at his news conference. But he said the interests of “one foreign country” had been imposed on Congress, and that “even the interests of the U.S. are not considered in such actions.”
He said nothing, however, about what Iran was specifically prepared to do. Mr. Rouhani also said: “We advise that the White House come out of its current confusion, see the realities and make decisions based on them.”
The Obama administration has expressed hope that Mr. Rouhani’s election could lay the basis for progress over the nuclear dispute. At the same time, Congress has intensified the sanctions pressure on Iran. Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved legislation that could, if enacted and fully enforced, effectively stop Iran’s oil exports. On Monday, 76 senators said President Obama should toughen the sanctions against Iran even as it pursues negotiations. In Washington, the State Department responded to Mr. Rouhani’s remarks by reiterating its own position — that Iran is in violation of Security Council resolutions requesting a halt to the uranium enrichment.
Referring to the sanctions, Mr. Rouhani said in one Twitter post: “We don’t want to see continuation of pressure, or carrot and stick. we never liked that idea and still don’t.” “We’ve also expressed an openness to having direct discussions with Iran,” a State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, told reporters at a regular daily news briefing. “But the ball is in their court. We still feel that they need to take steps to abide by their international obligations, and we’re not at that point.”
Mr. Rouhani’s repeated mention of direct negotiations with the United States made clear that Iran is no longer ideologically opposed to such talks, ending a period of more than three decades in which the subject was a political taboo.
On Saturday Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, stated that he was not opposed to talks over certain issues, but warned Mr. Rouhani that some of Iran’s enemies “do not speak our language of wisdom.”
The new president’s choice for foreign minister, Javad Zarif, said in a statement to Parliament that managing relations with the United States would be one of his tasks. Mr. Zarif was educated in the United States, where he spent many years, and is widely seen as Mr. Rouhani’s main adviser on foreign policy. His confirmation is expected.
Mr. Rouhani, who presents himself as a moderate within Iran’s political system, has been involved in most of Iran’s important foreign policy dossiers. He faces enormous problems, many related to the economy’s weakness and the international sanctions.
But he gave no indication at the news conference that the uranium enrichment would be compromised.
One Iranian journalist, from the reformist Etemad newspaper, asked how Mr. Rouhani would handle the nuclear issue compared with his predecessors, arguing that the enrichment centrifuges were not worth the economic cost. Mr. Rouhani countered that the program had strong popular domestic support.

Rick Gladstone contributed reporting from New York.