Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani said Friday that Washington must remove Iran from its "axis of evil" designation before Tehran would be willing to engage in any direct dialogue over the situation in Iraq.
President George W. Bush originally grouped Iran alongside North Korea and Iraq under that label in January 2002, accusing Tehran of backing terrorism and secretly developing nuclear weapons. Iran and the United States have had no diplomatic relations for 27 years, with each side maintaining long-standing hostile characterizations of the other.
Rafsanjani spoke during Friday prayers in Tehran, days after the US-based Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker, signaled interest in bringing Iran and Syria into discussions on stabilizing Iraq. British Prime Minister Tony Blair also expressed support for that approach.
The former president argued that Bush's forceful foreign policy had failed and said the US should respect other nations' sovereign rights rather than obstructing Iran's nuclear activities. He also cautioned Washington against over-relying on its United Nations Security Council veto, saying global public opinion carries its own weight.
Rafsanjani pointed to the Republican Party's recent electoral losses as a lesson for the White House and called negotiation the only viable path to resolving international disputes.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in November 2006, in its own words.