Give peace a chance
- By Zhao Jinglun
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E-mail China.org.cn, September 23, 2013
Anti-war folks the world over are encouraged; peace seems to be making its way through. America's planned war on Syria has been stopped, for now at least, and the olive branch offered by Iran's newly elected government seems to be a real and sincere one.
In fact, the Iranians sent so many positive signals that observers are overwhelmed. The nation's new President Hassan Rouhani sounds conciliatory in both his interview with NBC's Ann Curry and his recent opinion piece in The Washington Post. He told Curry, "We have time and again said that under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever." His words were backed up by America's own national intelligence estimates of both 2007 and 2011, which stated "with confidence" that Iran had given up any such effort (to develop a nuclear weapon) in 2003, and since hasn't restarted.
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Iran's new President Hassan Rouhani [File photo] |
Rouhani also said that he had the "full power and complete authority" to make a nuclear deal with the West, and is willing to allow intrusive inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities. He has also transferred the responsibility for any nuclear negotiations from the conservatives in the military to the Foreign Ministry.
He is not exaggerating. In a field of six presidential candidates, he won 18 million votes in the June elections -- more than half the ballots. The other five candidates altogether won fewer votes than he did, giving Ruohani a broad mandate. Additionally, he enjoys the support of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who issued a fatwa against the very idea of nuclear weapons, the mere possession of which, he contends, is "contrary to Islamic law." He also used the expression "heroic leniency," interpreted as a euphemism for a softer stance on foreign policy.
Moreover, Rouhani appointed the pro-American Mohammad Javad Zarif foreign minister. The new leadership has even taken to Twitter to send Rosh Hashanah greetings to Israel, and released several political prisoners.
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