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If Treated As An "Equal", Tehran Will Cooperate With U.S.
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"
America
... should stop its war-seeking policies of force and come and
face other countries as equals," said Rafsanjani
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TEHRAN,
June 21 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Former Iranian president
Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a still influential figure in Iran, said
Friday, June 21, that Tehran would "cooperate" with
Washington if it dropped its hostile policies and treated Iran as an
"equal".
"America...
should stop its war-seeking policies of force and come and face other
countries as equals," Rafsanjani said during the Muslim weekly
prayers in Tehran, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.
"Then,
it will see that the Islamic republic will count among those countries
which are ready to cooperate in all kinds of ways, like in
Afghanistan," he said, in a speech carried live on state radio.
The
United States "unfairly deems Iran as a sponsor of terrorism
because we protect the Palestinians in a limited way, and they, who
are defending criminal Israel, become defenders of civilization,"
the former head of state said.
"God
willing, those people who accuse Iran, shall pay attention that we
don't follow a tension-seeking policy towards the United States.
"America
should step down from the back of the devil, before it becomes the
devil," said Rafsanjani, who heads the powerful Expediency
Council, the Islamic republic's top arbitration body.
Iran,
an arch-foe of Israel and the United States, severed diplomatic ties
following the 1979 Islamic revolution.
In
case of a U.S. strike on Iraq, Iran would be in a tough situation, as
it will be surrounded by areas under American control, such as
Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Gulf, where a U.S. navy fleet is
located.
“Iran
is fully aware of its critical situation, but there are various
indications of communications between Iran and the U.S. Iran is a big
country, it can’t be destroyed by the U.S., but it can be
contained,” said Mohamed Abdel-Salam, a military expert in
Egypt’s Al-Ahram Center for Political & Strategic Studies
(ACPSS), in an interview conducted earlier with IslamOnline.
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