Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashavi on Wednesday recommended the new US administration to abandon the "carrot and stick policy" and avoid threatening others. According to IRNA, he urged the Obama administration to observe the rules of negotiations, one of them being the mutual respect.
“If by the sticks they mean the sanctions then it should be noticed that those are useless as figures showed that the volumes of Iran's trade have increased under difficult conditions,” Qashqavi said. Asked if Tehran had any plans for holding talks with the US, the spokesman said Iran’s position in this connection was announced by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the day before.
“Our position is what was said by the president. We are ready for the talks based on justice and mutual respect and with no accusations,” Qashqavi said. He stressed what was said by the president was “definitely based on the Constitution.”
In his address to the people who gathered in Tehran’s Azadi Square on February 10 to celebrate the victory anniversary of the Islamic revolution, the Iranian leader said, “The new US administration has announced that it wants to make changes and proceed the path to dialogue; it’s very clear that the real changes should be fundamental and not tactical. Obviously, the Iranian nation welcomes true changes. The Iranian nation is ready for talks but the talks should be in a fair atmosphere on mutual respect.”
Qashqavi rejected some reports relating President Ahmadinejad’s remarks to the next presidential elections to be held in Iran next spring. “Those are unwise analyses resulted from the lack of true understanding from Iran’s realities,” stressed the spokesman.
He added that holding elections in Iran is a domestic issue while making decisions about entering any talks with the US “is a special issue which should be discussed through a special procedure.”
