NCRI – In an interview with the BBC Radio on January 10, Hossein Abedini, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran exposed the clerical regime’s ambitions to establish an Islamic empire. The following is the text of his interview:
BBC Radio Five Live – Iran has resumed work in some of its research nuclear centers today. The United States has accused Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says that its research is for purely peaceful purposes. The Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the Iranians were pushing their luck with the international community. Hossein Abedini is on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and joins us now. Hello to you.
Hossein: Hello, good afternoon.
Presenter: Good afternoon. Obviously you are opposed to the current regime in Iran. We make that clear at the start, but why should we in the west tell Tehran about its nuclear program in the first place?
Hossein Abedini: Well, first of all the removal of seals from the sensitive Natanz uranium enrichment facility is a direct challenge to the will of the international community by the Iranian regime and this move dispels any doubt about the regime’s decision to acquire nuclear weapons. The truth is that Tehran wants to arm itself with the most dangerous weapons to achieve its ominous ambition of establishing Islamic world rule.
As we speak right now, the Iranian government is forging ahead with its clandestine nuclear weapons program and the construction of 14 tunnel complexes and underground facilities throughout Iran for its nuclear and missile programs.
The mullahs’ president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently said that his policy of taking a hard line is paying off and Europeans have been forced to retreat and accept the resumption of Iran’s illegal nuclear activities. And their announcement yesterday and the removal of seals today shows that it is really high time that Tehran’s nuclear file should be referred to the United Nations Security Council. This is a regime that has been cheating and deceiving the world for 18 years until we, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, revealed in August 2002 their secret nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak and their other clandestine nuclear activities. So it is really absolutely a big lie by the Iranian regime that they are after a peaceful source of energy and we believe that the decision not to refer Iran’s nuclear file to the Security Council of the United Nations in November and continued negotiations and discussions in Vienna last December and following that, the so-called Russian proposal have only emboldened the Iranian mullahs to defy the international community’s will.
Presenter: Just tell us specifically on the question of why Iran will be doing this. You make your claim that they want to be able to enforce Islamic rule across the world but what is the evidence for that?
Hossein Abedini: Well, I think the evidence is what Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the mullahs’ president, the supreme leader Ali Khamenei who once again reiterated and re-affirmed yesterday what Ahmadinejad had said is not really just a rhetorical remark, it is a deliberate decision and it is a strategic decision by the Iranian regime and apart from their aggressive nuclear policy, their increased meddling in Iraq and their terrorist activities throughout the world, their murderous policy inside Iran shows that very well that this regime is trying to arm itself with the most dangerous weapons in order to achieve its ominous intentions. I want to add to this what the government’s head of strategic centre said yesterday that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been using the strategy of shock and awe to advance the Islamic republic’s foreign policy goals. So this is what the principal policy advisory to the Iranian president has said and this leaves no doubt that it is a deliberate decision and a strategic decision by the Iranian regime.
