IRAN`S NEW LEADER SOUNDS BETTER

Leader Says Iran Wants To Repair Relations With U.S.

But vows never to give up right to nuclear energy

By Courtney Subramanian @cmsubDec. 23, 20130

Adrees Latif / Reuters

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani takes questions from journalists during a news conference in New York September 27, 2013.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani  says he wants to rebuild diplomatic relations with Western powers, even as he insists the country will “never never give up our right to nuclear energy.”
Rouhani’s comments, in an editorial in a German newspaper Monday and accompanying Twitter messages on an account associated with him, came during a Christmas break in talks over Iran’s nuclear program.
“We want to rebuild and improve our relations to European and North American countries on a basis of mutual respect,” Rouhani wrote in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Reuters reports. “We are striving to avoid new burdens on relations between Iran and the United States and also to remove the tensions that we have inherited.
“We must now concentrate on the present and orientate ourselves towards the future,” read the messages on a closely-followed Twitter account that has never been verified as belonging to Rouhani but has broken news of his policy positions and actions before. “We’ll never give up our right to #nuclear energy. But we’re working towards removing all doubts and answer all reasonable questions.”
Rouhani helped spearhead the landmark negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program. The temporary deal reached last month allows for crippling economy sanctions on Iran’s economy to be lifted and the country to halt its nuclear program for six months while negotiators try to hash out a more permanent agreement. Diplomats announced Sunday that Geneva talks will be suspended until after Christmas.