Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Saturday slammed US president-elect Barack Obama for saying its pursuit of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable,” the official IRNA news agency reported.
“This signifies a pursuit of the same erroneous policy as in the past,” Larijani said when asked about Obama’s comment on Friday.
“If the United States wants to change its standing in the region it should send good signals,” he said.
“Obama understands that change does not only mean a change of colour and superficial differences, change must also have a strategic basis,” the agency quoted Larijani as saying.
Obama told his first news conference since winning the US presidential election on Tuesday that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was unacceptable and also that he would “respond appropriately” to a congratulatory letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“Iran’s development of a nuclear weapon I believe is unacceptable. We have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening.”
Obama added that “Iran’s support of terrorist organisations, I think, is something that has to cease.”
AFP
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad listens during a meeting in Tehran in October 2008. Obama said on Friday that Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons was “unacceptable” and he would “respond appropriately” to a congratulatory letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.(AFP/File/Atta Kenare)
