Tehran Softens Nuclear Position

Iran reaffirmed its commitment Sunday to a nuclear arms control treaty and urged a negotiated solution to international concerns that it is seeking to develop atomic weapons.

The apparently conciliatory statements from Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi came a day after Iran’s president issued a veiled threat to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

“We are still committed to the provisions of the NPT. But we can’t accept its use as a [political] instrument,” Asefi said at a weekly news conference.

On Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected U.S. and European pressure to resume a freeze on the country’s nuclear program and hinted that Iran might withdraw from the treaty.

“The nuclear policy of the Islamic Republic so far has been peaceful. Until now, we have worked inside the [International Atomic Energy Agency] and the NPT regulations,” he said in a speech before tens of thousands of Iranians marking the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

“If we see you want to violate the right of the Iranian people by using those regulations, you should know that the Iranian people will revise their policies,” he said.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned that such a move by Iranians “would only deepen their own isolation,” citing a recent decision by the U.N. nuclear agency to report the country to the Security Council, which could impose sanctions.

“The really remarkable thing over the last several months is that there’s really now a tremendous coalition of countries that are saying exactly the same thing to Iran,” she said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos.”

“And so, the Iranians now need to step back, look at where they are, see that they’re isolated on this issue, and return to a state in which they would ... get back into good graces with the IAEA, and get back into negotiations with those who are prepared to offer them a course for civil nuclear power,” she said.

Tehran repeatedly has stressed the NPT allows it to pursue a nuclear program for peaceful purposes. The U.S. and its European allies believe Iran is seeking to develop atomic weapons.