In New York, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that relations with the United States could be destroyed if new sanctions were imposed on Iran. “Some radicals [in the US administration] may push President Obama, who came to power with the goal of reform, past the point of no return,” he stressed. The Iranian President voiced his disappointment at Obama's performance, saying that he is locked in a political stalemate and has failed to keep a promise he made to the UN General Assembly last September to abandon the approach of the previous US administration. "He promised to reform those policies [of former President George W. Bush] and many of us in the session welcomed his statements," Ahmadinejad said. "But nothing has happened. No change has come about yet." Though the Iranian President expressed his disappointment at the new round of sanctions that may soon be imposed on Iran, he added that, while Iran doesn't welcome sanctions, the country is not afraid of them. Just a day after the Iranian President left New York for Tehran, his official website reported that he had told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez over the phone that he welcomed the suggestion made by the President of Brazil to exchange of Iran's 3.5 per cent enriched uranium for 20 per cent enriched uranium needed for medical isotopes in Tehran. Brazil is a non-permanent member of the Security Council and Iran has made considerable efforts to convince these members to oppose a new round of sanctions on Iran. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva is due to visit Tehran within the next three weeks, and it is expected that the two leaders will discuss Iran's nuclear programme and a new round of sanctions on the country. President Ahmadinejad's presence at the Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in New York, and Iran's diplomatic decision to send representatives to China, Turkey, Lebanon and other non-permanent members of the Security Council clearly show just how eager the Iranians are to prevent a new round of sanctions. Meanwhile, the Deputy Foreign Minister of China has announced that the Chinese President will visit Moscow for two days on May 8 and 9, with the two presidents slated to discuss Iran's nuclear programme. Both Russia and China have economic ties with Iran, and the approval of a new round of sanctions will limit their interests in the Islamic Republic. This would be especially problematic for China, which is heavily involved in business in Iran, one of the biggest importers of Chinese goods. It would also be hard for Russia, which is building the Bushehr nuclear facility in southern Iran and has made billions of dollars doing business in the Islamic Republic. It obviously doesn't want to lose all this business, just because the US or European nations. Ahmadinejad's remarks on humanity, peace and love, and his calls for equality among IAEA members and reform of the NPT, as well as his accusing the Security Council of discrimination because only five permanent members have the power of veto, would receive more attention if they were voiced by the president of a country whose citizens lived stable lives in a safe and free environment. The world is distrustful of Iran's nuclear programme, primarily due to the way the Iranian regime treats its own people. President Ahmadinejad's remarks would have been better received if the situation in Iran were better and if fewer of Iran's opposition members and protesters against the election results were languishing in prison. If the circumstances were different in Iran and the Iranian government let its people enjoy their rights, then President Ahmadinejad would find an audience more open to what he says. It will take time for the Iranian people and the world to forget the brutal way civilians were treated by the Islamic regime last year and to learn to trust Ahmadinejad. When the Iranian government makes peace with its own people and resolves its internal divisions, Iran will get more international support and sympathy.
Entekhabifard is an Iranian journalist based in New York. She contributed this story to The Gazette.
