Tehran - Iran's former president Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani on
Friday called on officials to adopt a 'wiser rhetoric' in the course
of the nuclear dispute.
'The rhetoric should be adopted in a wiser way as the current
situation is anything but normal,' the cleric said at the Friday
prayer ceremony in Tehran.
Rafsanjani was referring to the harsh rhetoric used by President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad within the context of the nuclear dispute such as
terming the United Nations Security Council resolution 1737 as 'just
a piece of torn paper.'
Rafsanjani said that while the threats of sanctions and military
attacks on Iran may only be psychological war, the nuclear policy
should be still be followed in a rational way.
The former president also met Wednesday with British ambassador to
Tehran, Geoffrey Adams, saying that that Iran did not seek
adventurism and was ready to submit any verifying measures proving
the peaceful nature of its nuclear programmes.
Rafsanjani also warned the West not to seek an adventure either,
referring to reports of a probable military attack against Iran.
Rafsanjani also said that Iran would be ready to cooperate with
the West in returning peace and stability to Afghanistan and Iraq 'if
there was a serious will to solve the problems.'
Rafsanjani, together with former reformist president Mohammad
Khatami, have succeeded in forming a coalition of reformists and
moderate conservatives with the sole aim of confronting the policies
of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The coalition gained a major victory in last December's Experts
Assembly and municipality elections which was widely regarded as the
first setback of Ahmadinejad since his presidency in August 2005.
Local criticism against Ahmadinejad's uncompromising course on the
nuclear issue has increased in the recent weeks and even state-
television said in a live interview with the president that his
policies were widely considered as 'harsh, emotional and
unscientific.'
Ahmadinejad however rejected all criticism saying both the state
system and nation were decisively pursuing their right to continue
the nuclear programmes and would not even be intimidated by United
Nations Security Council resolutions.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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