Iran could discuss nuclear suspension: Khatami

Washington, Sept 8: Former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said on Thursday Iran could discuss suspending its nuclear program if the West would negotiate without preconditions.

Speaking at the Washington National Cathedral during an unprecedented visit to the US capital, Khatami said US threats to use force against Iran would not succeed.

''We are in search of solutions. During the course of negotiations we could even talk about suspensions, the nature of suspensions, the timing of suspensions and the durations of suspensions,'' he told a news conference.

''I believe that the best recourse (is) to talk and to negotiate over these issues,'' said Khatami who was Iranian president from 1997 to 2005.

''The use of force, and the threat of use of force, and language of threat has never produced a resolution to this conflict and (such) conflicts,'' he added through an interpreter.

The UN Security Council demanded Iran suspend nuclear enrichment by August. 31 or face possible sanctions. Iran, which says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, refused.

The United States and major European powers have offered to negotiate economic and political benefits for Iran if the Islamic republic first suspends enrichment, which is key to nuclear weapons production.

Regarded as a reformist during his presidency, Khatami was largely stymied by powerful conservative clerics. His hard-line successor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has reinstated conservative domestic policies, while issuing threats to destroy Israel and denying the Holocaust took place.

Khatami said he had differences with Ahmadinejad but denied conditions in Iran had regressed under him.

CONTROVERSIAL VISIT

Khatami's US visit, which also includes stops in New York, Chicago and Harvard University, has been controversial, given US accusations the Islamic republic is pursuing nuclear weapons, sponsors ''terrorism,'' arms Hizbollah guerrillas in Lebanon and stifles internal dissent.

A spokesman for the Episcopal cathedral, whose Center for Global Justice and Reconciliation sponsored Khatami's Washington appearance said, ''We recognize him as a moderate voice for reconciliation and one we ought to listen to.'' Several hundred protesters massed outside the heavily guarded cathedral, calling for freedom, human rights and democracy in Iran.

Khatami complained that Americans distorted Iran by portraying it as a violent society and insisted it was evolving into a more democratic state.

Before two nations can talk, the historical mistrust between them must be addressed, but US leaders seemed more eager to make war than seek peace, he said.

He defended his role in Iran's nuclear program. ''Whatever existed during my tenure, and it's being continued today, is a search to achieve sufficiency in peaceful nuclear technology,'' he said.

His formal speech, with predominant religious themes, said Islam and the West must re-evaluate their reliance on modernism and tradition to ''rescue life from the claws of warmongers and violence-seekers and ostentatious leaders.'' President George W. Bush has called Iran part of an ''axis of evil.'' Still, his administration gave Khatami an unrestricted visa, although US officials said they would not meet him or attend his appearances.

The United States has had no formal diplomatic ties with Iran since student radicals seized the US Embassy in Tehran during the 1979 revolution and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

REUTERS

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