President Hassan Rouhani ruled out any final nuclear agreement with the major powers that risks exposing national secrets.
“We will never sign a deal that gives the outsiders access to the country’s security, military and technological secrets,” Rouhani was quoted by IRNA as saying in an address to officials during a trip to East Azarbaijan Province on Thursday.
Iran and the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) are negotiating to meet a self-imposed June-30 deadline to reach a final deal to resolve a 12-long standoff over Tehran’s nuclear program.
On many occasions, Iranian officials have expressed strong opposition to the demand by some of Tehran’s negotiating partners that any final deal should allow inspection of Iran’s military sites.
Pointing to the recent remarks by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei who once again placed emphasis on the Islamic Republic’s red lines, Rouhani said, “(The Leader’s) view is binding on the government and others.”
“Based on the Additional Protocol, access (to our military facilities) should be a managed one, and this (the management) is in our hand.”
In his remarks in the commencement ceremony for graduates of Imam Hossein Military Academy in Tehran on Wednesday, The Leader rejected as “excessive” the western demands for extraordinary inspections, saying, “As we have said before, we will grant no access to any of our military centers and (allow) no interview with our nuclear scientists.”
Rouhani stressed, “Considering the establishment’s red lines frequently stressed by the Leader, our duty in the negotiations is to observe our principles, frameworks and red lines, which include enrichment activities inside the country, amongst others.”
“Our negotiators recognize the red lines well.”
Elsewhere, he referred to the developments in the region, lamenting the suffering “the enemies” have inflicted on some regional nations. “The enemies have caused insecurity for the nations in the region. Look what they have put people through.”
Commenting on the issue brought up by Ayatollah Khamenei in his Wednesday’s speech that some officials of Persian Gulf Arab states are attempting to spread proxy wars to Iran’s borders, Rouhani said, “The attempts by ill-wishers of Iran to fan the flames of conflict and insecurity toward the country’s borders is in vain.”
The Leader had warned that “any wrongdoing in this regard will receive a tough response from the Islamic Republic.”
