Spokeswoman deplores Obama’s remarks on Iran

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham described the US President Barack Obama’s recent interview with the ABC satellite TV channel as Washington's "persistence in its illogical and illegal war option". Afgham said the fact that "the US foreign policy has been taken hostage by influential lobby groups is now a taken-for-granted belief for American think-tanks, yet, resorting to the military option merely to meet the interests of these lobbies at the cost of violating the international law principles, the UN Charter and defying the public opinion can no way be justified". The Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman expressed the hope that the Obama administration would take a lesson from the unsuccessful experiences of the former US administrations in their confrontations against the Iranian nation and accept that using the language of threat against the Islamic Republic of Iran will not have the least influence on the will of the Iranian nation and government concerning the restoration of their inalienable nuclear rights, including enrichment inside Iran. Afkham reiterated that it is only through the language of respect that the US can usher in interaction with Iran. “The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly underlined non-diversion of Iran’s nuclear program, and as the respectable Iranian President, His Excellency Dr. Rouhani, has recently declared we oppose prolonging the nuclear talks and we believe that in case the needed resolve exists in the other side, a suitable solution can be found for this issue very rapidly,” she added. The United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations in April 1980, after Iranian students seized the United States' espionage center at its embassy in Tehran. The two countries have had tense relations ever since, but have shown willingness to attend talks to help resolve regional issues, including security in Iraq. Yet, the two countries have avoided talks on bilateral issues for the last thirty years. Washington and its Western allies accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under the cover of a civilian nuclear program, while they have never presented any corroborative evidence to substantiate their allegations. Iran denies the charges and insists that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.