IRAN’S Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Mohammad Ali Ja’fari has warned that the USA is ‘keen’ to strike a nuclear deal with Iran in pursuit of its own aims.
Ja’fari made the statement in his speech at a ceremony of commemoration of Iran-Iraq war ‘martyrs’ held in Qom on 18 November.
He also spoke about a number of other issues at the ceremony. Speaking about America’s efforts aimed at striking a deal with Iran, Major General Ja’fari said: ‘Today, it is America that is keen to strike a nuclear deal with Iran and wants to remove some of its problems on that path, as it understands that enmity with Iran will not allow the country to attain its aims and that Iran’s glory will hardly suffer a strike on this path.
‘America regards the Islamic Revolution and resistance as a troublesome obstacle on the path of achieving its goals and is trying to find a gap in this regard.’
Ja’fari added: ‘It should know that thanks to the guidance of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamene’i), it will not succeed in this field and that we will defend our rights until our interests are satisfied and we will move ahead until the pressure and sanctions are lifted.’
The IRGC commander described the Islamic Revolution ideology as the main reason of enmity on the part of ‘global arrogance’ and especially America towards Iran.
He said: ‘Americans intend to deprive us of our political independence and to make us dependent on them, and in fact the rejection of slavery and political dependence is one of the reasons of the enmity of enemies of the Revolution.’
Referring to the statements of some officials on the need to cooperate with the world system, Ja’fari said: ‘Some people have not received the message of the Revolution and martyrs yet and believe that we should not remain independent in the international arena and should officially recognise the power of global arrogance.
‘The authorities of the Islamic Republic should create grounds for social prosperity, calm and security of society, while enemies are trying to impede this process.’
Ja’afari also said: ‘Defending Islamic values and oppressed nations of the world is the main reason of the enmity of Americans and the Zionist network, and the protraction of the (Iran-P5+1) nuclear talks is due to efforts aimed at forcing Iran to accept the influence of arrogance.
‘Thanks to the wise guidelines of the Supreme Leader this has still not happened and will never happen.’
Elsewhere in his speech, Ja’fari spoke about the 2006 victory of the Lebanese Hezbollah in the 33-day war against Israel and said: ‘The fact that the Lebanese Hezbollah defeated the biggest army in the Middle East and that global arrogance (US) mobilises its forces in Syria to destroy a country, which is on the path of resistance and Islamic revolution, but is not able to do that and the fact that today, we are witnessing the presence of Takfiris (extremist Sunnis who regard Shi’is as apostates) in Islamic countries spreading discord among Shi’is and Sunnis and fruitlessly trying to prevent the expansion of the revolution and Islamic resistance owe to the successes we achieved during Sacred Defence (Iran-Iraq eight-year war in the 1980s)’.
‘We will witness bigger victories in the near future, including the liberation of holy Quds (Jerusalem), which late Imam (Khomeini) predicted,’ Ja’fari said.
The commander also touched on the US attack on Iraq and the efforts to establish a pro-US government in the country.
‘Despite the efforts of America, a Shi’i and public government was shaped in Iraq, which was an unprecedented event in the history of the country,’ Ja’fari noted.
• Iranian atomic chief Behruz Kamalvandi has said that no negotiations over the transfer of nuclear fuel from Iran to other countries has taken place.
Kamalvandi, who is the spokesman of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran (AEOI), made the comments in an interview with the state-owned Arabic-language Al-Alam TV on Thursday.
Specifying that the topic of fuel transfer had not even been raised, Kamalvandi stated: ‘What is certain is that Iran produces raw material for fuel, and that we have produced good-quality 20 per cent fuel for nuclear reactors.’
Turning to the topic of fuel for power plants, Kamalvandi said: ‘(The production of) fuel for nuclear power plants is somewhat more complicated. Naturally, it requires Russian cooperation, which has been agreed (by Russia) and is contained in the contracts. We need to examine technical issues in order to speed up the process because our goal is to produce fuel for nuclear power plants ourselves.’
Commenting on the latest agreements signed with Russia on the construction of nuclear power plants in the southwestern Iranian Bushehr Province on 11 November, Kamalvandi stated: ‘Mr Salehi’s visit to Russia last week was the result of months of negotiations between the two countries.
‘Three agreements were signed during this visit. They can be deemed strategic agreements and represent a turning point in the relations between the two countries.
‘One of the agreements pertains to the additional protocol, which is an agreement that was signed between the two countries in 1992.
‘It was agreed that Russia would build four power plants in Iran, which has resulted in the construction of the Bushehr power plant.’
Kamalvandi added that because of new developments, including international commitments made by Russia, that agreement needed to be reviewed. He specified that it had originally been stipulated that it could be re-examined if necessary.
‘Not only did we discuss the four power plants, but the possibility of increasing that number to four additional ones has been considered. It means that in the future, Iran and Russia could collaborate to build eight power plants,’ Kamalvandi said.
On the third agreement signed between Iran and Russia on cooperation in the field of fuel, he specified that it could either be fuel or fuel components that would be subsequently assembled.
Kamalvandi stated: ‘The important point is that the two countries agreed that the power plants designed by Russia and built in Iran could use fuel which is produced in Iran by the two countries.
‘This is a major step forward. Similarly, on the issue of power plants, the plan is that when possible Iranian companies will participate in the project.
‘This means that the proportion of Iranian services, equipment and designs in the second and third power plants can gradually increase. The proportion executed by Iranian companies could be around 35 to 40 per cent.’
Commenting on future plans in this field, Kamalvandi said: ‘In the future, we want to be able to build about 60 per cent of the power plants in Iran. This means that Iran will be among nuclear power plant builders in the world.’
He added: ‘Our forecast is that the construction of the remaining power plants will take place approximately over seven to eight years.
‘The second power plant will start in two years this means that in two years, we will have two power plants with more than 1,000 megawatt power.’
He stressed: ‘We can therefore say that they are massive and important power plants. By installing a water desalination device in Bushehr, we plan on meeting the needs of people of that province.’
