There is a widely held belief -- promoted by the hyped US media coverage -- that Iranian president Ahmadinejad is the one behind Iran's nuclear program. The program is largely and almost exclusively attributed to him (something he no doubt encourages too) The Iran-hawks have claimed falsely that if only Ahmadinejad falls, then the Iranian nuclear program will be "delayed" or destroyed. But in fact the "reformists" in Iran are just as (if not more) protective of the nuclear program.
Take for example Rafsanjani's statement on this issue several years ago:
Iran's Khamenei slams American brand of Islam as "backward"
Agence France-Press TEHRAN, May 19 2003
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday condemned what he called "American Islam" as a backward form of the religion that only serves US interests, state television reported.
"American Islam is a backward Islam, filled with superstition, and a form of Islam that falls in line with American principles and Western ideas," he said in an address to top officials, including President Mohammad Khatami.
"The Islamic nation will have a bright future, only by resorting to the pure Islam of Mohammad, which is the Islam of unity of Muslims and resistance against arrogance," Khamenei added.
Iran's influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, meanwhile, denied US accusations over Iran's nuclear plans and stressed their "peaceful" purposes.
"Our country has got used to such threats and US accusations are nothing new," he said in an interview with Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam television channel.
Rafsanjani said the "peaceful use" of nuclear energy was the "natural demand of the Iranian government and nation".
"Americans advised Iran to generate 20,000 megawatts of electricity during the former regime and submitted plans for building power plants. Now they say Iran does not need nuclear power since it has abundant oil and gas," he said.
"How come we needed atomic plants at that time (of the pro-West shah) when our daily oil production stood at six million barrels, whereas now that only 3.5 million barrels per day is produced we do not need such plants?" he asked.
"We have decided to produce 7,000 megawatts of nuclear power. We need fuel for our plants and we should create a fuel cycle, independently," he insisted.
Rafsanjani also rejected as "baseless" US charges that Tehran was sheltering leaders of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network after the 2001 US-led war in Afghanistan that ousted the hardline Taliban militia.
"The Taliban and al-Qaeda were founded by Americans themselves and certain Arab countries next to the Islamic republic in order to oppose Iran," he said.
fm/hc
Note also this
Iran sees soaring energy needs, independence at stake in nuclear ambitions
TEHRAN (Agence France Presse) Oct 21, 2003
Iran argues that the energy needs of a fast growing population as well as the Islamic republic's independence justify its nuclear ambitions which have aroused suspicion in the West.
Iran insists the stakes are high, with a population of more than 65 million.
But given the country's enormous oil and gas reserves, the international community has stepped up the pressure on Tehran to come clean on its nuclear energy programme and fall in line with demands of the UN nuclear watchdog.
Despite Iranian assurances it is not seeking to develop nuclear weapons, sceptics ask why Iran should invest billions of dollars to produce 7,000 megawatts of electricity at a far higher cost than with gas-powered plants.
"Before the (1979 Islamic) revolution, we had a population of 30 million and oil revenues in the region of 22 billion dollars a year," said Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran's representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"Today, our population has doubled but not only do oil revenues fall far short of 44 billion dollars, but we would have needed 90 billion dollars in oil revenues" to keep up with inflation, he said.
"We are currently running our country with 24 billion dollars in revenues (from the oil and non-oil sectors), which is something of a miracle."
Salehi said that 7,000 megawatts of nuclear-generated electricity would free up about 200 million barrels of oil a year, or an annual saving of around four billion dollars.
And that is without taking into account the fact that Iran's reserves are not unlimited.
Consumption of oil, diesel and electricity has been rising sharply in Iran, where 80 percent of villages now have electricity and power cuts are a far rarer occurrence.
Iran currently produces 3.6 million barrels of oil a day, a third of which is ploughed into domestic consumption, a share which is climbing, necessitating imports of more than one billion dollars worth of refined petrol.
As a result, officials here say, Iran is accelerating the nuclear programme.
Apart from the 1,000-megawatt nuclear plant being built in Bushehr, southern Iran, with Russian help, the government plans to construct six other reactors each with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.
While airing national pride for the achievements of its own scientists, Iranian officials say the programme will ensure that Tehran's needs and independence are not subject to foreign pressure.
In March, President Mohammad Khatami revealed Iran had the know-how to produce nuclear fuel and was building atomic installations in Isfahan, Natanz, Arak and Yazd.
To show that Western pressure has been politically motivated, Iranian officials point out that before the Islamic revolution even the United States encouraged Tehran to pursue a nuclear programme for civilian uses.
The aim was to produce 20,000 megawatts of electricity in 2000.
Germany helped launch the work at Bushehr even before the revolution but it was interrupted by the 1980-1988 war between Iran and Iraq, before Russia entered the picture.
The United States, Britain and France were also to have taken part in the construction of several nuclear plants, but the overthrew of the shah put paid to such projects.
All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse.
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