Iran has right to civilian nuclear energy: Obama

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* US president says West should renew dialogue with Islam

LONDON: US President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy – provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.

In a BBC interview broadcast on Tuesday, Obama also restated plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran to encourage it to set aside any ambitions for nuclear weapons it might harbour.

“What I do believe is that Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations,” Obama said, adding that the international community also “has a very real interest” in preventing a nuclear arms race.

The president has indicated a willingness to seek tighter international sanctions against Tehran if it does not respond positively to US attempts to open negotiations on its nuclear programme. Obama said Tehran had until the end of the year to show it wants to engage with Washington.

“Although I don’t want to put artificial time tables on that process, we do want to make sure that, by the end of this year, we’ve actually seen a serious process move forward. And I think that we can measure whether or not the Iranians are serious,” Obama said.

Better dialogue: In addition, Obama told French television viewers on Tuesday that the West should renew its dialogue with Islam, calling the US “one of the largest Muslim countries of the world,” according to AFP.

“I think what we need is to create a better dialogue. So that the Muslim world understands better how the US, but how effectively the West, thinks about many of these difficult issues: terrorism, like democracy,” he added. agencies

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