[R-G] Iran: Moussavi Rules Out Enrichment Suspension

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a2466224-2824-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0,dwp_uuid=be75219e-940a-11da-82ea-0000779e2340.html>
FT Interview: Mir-Hossein Moussavi

Published: April 13 2009 14:53 | Last updated: April 13 2009 14:53

Mir-Hossein Moussavi, Iran’s leftist prime minister between 1981 and
1989, is a leading candidate to unseat president Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad
in the presidential election on June 12. The FT’s Tehran correspondent
Najmeh Bozorgmehr interviewed him on April 12 in his office at the Art
Centre, in central Tehran. The 18-minute interview was in Farsi. The
edited transcript, translated by Monavar Khalaj, follows:

Financial Times: You recently said you would pursue détente with the
west if you were elected. How are you going to have that approach with
the US while not compromising on the nuclear programme?

Mir-Hossein Moussavi: I consider détente the principle to build
confidence between Iran and other countries. I think the recent
discourse, which differentiates between nuclear technology and nuclear
weapons is a good one. The more this differentiation is emphasised,
the greater the possibility of détente.

FT: Would Iran agree to suspend uranium enrichment if you were president?

Moussavi: No one in Iran would accept suspension.

FT: And you would not accept it, either?

Moussavi: No. The problem is that we had a bad experience with
suspension. It was first done [2003-2005] to discuss issues and remove
suspicion but it turned into a tool to deprive Iran of having access
to nuclear technology. There is a bad memory in this regard.

FT: How would you remove tensions then?

Moussavi: Progress in nuclear technology and its peaceful use is the
right of all countries and nations. This is what we have painfully
achieved with our own efforts. No one will retreat. But we have to see
what solutions or in other words what guarantees can be found to
verify the non-diversion of the programme into nuclear weapons.

FT: What kind of solutions?

Moussavi: They can be reached in technical negotiations.

FT: How influential can the president be in nuclear decisions while
the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the last say in this
issue?

Moussavi: Decisions on nuclear technology definitely need to be based
on a thorough consensus at the national level. Obviously, the role of
the supreme leader is very determining.

FT: So far, however, no solution has been found. How would your presidency help?

Moussavi: The issue doesn’t only depend on us. It will also depend on
the discourse the Americans use and the issues they pursue. The more
realistic they become and recognise Iran in this issue, naturally the
better the ground will be prepared to find solutions.

FT: Your relations with Ayatollah Khamenei [Iran’s supreme leader]
were tense in the past. Do you think this will continue if you get
elected? And could you also tell us about your meeting with him last
week?

Moussavi: The tensions when I was in office as prime minister
[1981-1989] were because of [power] structure problems which were
removed in the revision of the constitution in 1989.

Now, the management of the supreme leader as the valy-e-faqih [supreme
jurisprudent] in our country and his relations with other
organisations and institutions, including government-owned bodies, are
totally clear. Naturally, the prospect for cooperation for the
country’s progress is very good.

FT: How was your meeting with him last week?

Moussavi: It was very positive.

FT: Did he have any problems with your candidacy?

Moussavi: He had no problems. He has an impartial position in the
upcoming election. He mentioned this in his speech in Mashhad [late
March] and repeated it to me. As we have had relatively extensive
contacts discussing issues, the recent meeting was also very good and
positive.

FT: Did Ayatollah Khamenei have any specific recommendation?

Moussavi: No. We only discussed the country’s problems.

FT: Do you have fundamental differences with him in any specific field?

Moussavi: No.

FT: Were your differences with him in the past the reason why you
largely abandoned the political scene in the last 20 years?

Moussavi: No. I believed the Islamic republic was in a stable position
and that different politicians can come and go. I had no concerns
about who might take office. And I was interested in culture, which is
why I shifted to cultural activities.

Of course, during this period I was advisor to the top authorities. I
have also been a member of the High Council for Cultural Revolution
and the Expediency Council. The positions necessitated that I follow
political and executive issues.

But it had nothing to do with the problems [I faced] during the
[Iran-Iraq] war [1980-1988]. [Former president Akbar Hashemi]
Rafsanjani was a very strong and powerful candidate. Then came Mr
[Mohammad] Khatami. But I thought I had better run this time.

FT: Do you consider Mr Ahmadi-Nejad a risk for Iran and the Islamic
republic’s political system?

Moussavi: Mr Ahmadi-Nejad is the president and for this reason I
respect him. There are criticisms about his opinions and behaviour.
This is natural in countries like ours in which there is freedom. I
don’t see Mr Ahmadi-Nejad himself as a danger.

FT: Where do you see the risk then?

Moussavi: I think the country can be run better and that more
effective financial, economic, cultural and foreign policies can be
adopted. In foreign policy, we can have better relations with the
world which is surely very significant to help our country’s
development.

FT: Many critics of Mr Ahmadi-Nejad believe the country will face a
crisis if the president is re-elected. Do you agree?

Moussavi: I don’t want to say this and don’t like to use harsh terms.

FT: Do you think you’ll be also supported by Ayatollah Khamenei if you
are elected?

Moussavi: It’s absolutely natural for the supreme leader to support
any government that sweeps to power with the backing of people’s
votes. This support can increase if the government policies are close
to those of the supreme leader.

FT: Will you try to make your policies close to the views of the supreme leader?

Moussavi: Yes. The more the country moves toward consensus in
fundamental policies, the better it will be run. But you should also
note that one of the most important responsibilities of the leader is
to approve and announce macro policies which are first discussed at
the Expediency Council and then are sealed by him, then notified to
other organisations. The government’s commitment to these general
policies can create the best relations between the government and the
leader.

FT: Given that you have been out of the political scene for a while
and that young people in Iran many not know you, why would they vote
for you?

Moussavi: The youth are obviously free to vote for anyone they like. I
will elaborate on my policies until election day [on June 12] on
issues like culture and address their concerns including housing,
employment and marriage. If young people think policies correspond to
their needs, they will naturally vote and if not, they won’t.

FT: But do you have any specific approach to convince Iran’s youth
that you are their candidate?

Moussavi: I think young people should be trusted. I don’t have the
pessimism of some [politicians] toward them. Some minor changes in the
appearance of young people should not make us think they have taken
anti-national identity. I don’t believe that they have changed their
appearance so much that we cannot recognise them any more. I think our
young people are very good, creative and really decent human beings
who are proud of their past and their rich culture.

FT: How are you going to attract their votes?

Moussavi: I will try to discuss these issues in the remaining one
month and think they will receive the signals I am sending them
positively.

FT: The business community still remembers that you decided to
bulldoze the chamber of commerce building to accommodate war refugees
back in the 1980s. And this leaves people concerned about your
economic policies.

Moussavi: I don’t remember the building you are referring to. Of
course, we didn’t have good relations with the chamber of commerce
which was related to the election process in the chamber and
war-related policies, but we didn’t destroy their building.

Naturally, with the end of the [Iran-Iraq] war, the grounds for such
confrontations were removed.

I do believe in the strong presence of the private sector, in
particular in the production field, and also making the best use of
Iran’s relative advantages in trade. I think all those who care about
the country and the economy including the chamber of commerce will
welcome this approach and establish good relations with the
government.

FT: So you don’t expect tensions with the business community?

Moussavi: No. We need the private sector to help resolve unemployment.
There is no bright prospect to deal with such problems through
government investments.

FT: What is your economic programme?

Moussavi: I believe there are various opportunities in the country.
The government’s role can be that of guidance to have a robust
national economy.

We have gone too far in opening up to imports. This has to be revised.
We have to take bigger steps to support our national economy.

FT: Are going to restrict imports?

Moussavi: I don’t think there can be a unified prescription. I have to
see which sections should be restricted and over what period of time.
We have to gradually make those sections in which we have relative
advantages active.

FT: Could you give us one example?

There are many factories which are 50 to 60 years old which are very
capable and have done well. But they are unable to compete with
foreign goods because these goods get into the country in different
ways. They are becoming importers themselves. We have to stop this.
You can see this in different sectors.

FT: What are you going to do with subsidies?

Moussavi: Subsidies should be targeted. The principle of giving
subsidies is acceptable to a certain extent. But they should be
targeted and it should become clear why we are giving these subsidies.

They should serve a strong national economy, help safeguard resources
and support the lower classes. Targeting subsidies should be done
gradually. Any abrupt halt can exert a shock because of the economic
structure and the huge subsidies we give for various commodities.

FT: Over what period of time do you are you thinking of targeting
subsidies when you say “gradually”? Ten years for instance?

Moussavi: Probably we can achieve this in two [five-year] plans to
completely implement it. The most important one is the energy subsidy
and we have to gradually work on it.

FT: How are you going to prioritise your economic policies? Give us
your top three ones?

Moussavi: We have to constantly work on inflation, unemployment and
the improvement of business.

FT: How are you going to improve the business environment?

Moussavi: By facilitating the issuing of permits for new businesses.
Such procedures are currently very slow in our country. We have lots
of problems in this sense compared to other countries.

FT: And how are you going to curb inflation?

Moussavi: Through monetary policies, imports, making the private
sector active and increasing production. And more important than
anything else is having stability in economic decisions.

<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/23bd15ba-2851-11de-8dbf-00144feabdc0.html>
Moussavi hopes to build more modern Iran

By Najmeh Bozorgmehr in Tehran

Published: April 13 2009 19:26 | Last updated: April 13 2009 19:26

Iranian presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Moussavi has ruled out
suspension of the country’s controversial uranium enrichment but
insisted that he would work to provide “guarantees” that Tehran would
not divert its nuclear programme to weapons use.

In his first interview with the international media, one of the
leading rivals to Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad, the fundamentalist president,
in the June election, told the Financial Times that Iran had a “bad
experience” with suspension.

It had agreed to a suspension between 2003 and 2005 in the hope that
it would build confidence in the peaceful nature of its programme, he
said.

But the move “turned into a tool to deprive Iran of having access to
nuclear technology,” he argued, referring to European powers’
insistence at the time that Iran should suspend indefinitely its
experiments.

A self-effacing architect and painter, Mr Moussavi served as prime
minister in the 1980s, during the Iran-Iraq war, but has dedicated
much of his time in the past two decades to the arts. The
69-year-old’s candidacy has attracted international attention, partly
because he is backed by Mohammad Khatami, the former reformist
president.

Mr Khatami withdrew his own candidacy to try to unite reformist ranks
behind Mr Moussavi. Cleric Mehdi Karroubi remains in the race and
could yet split reformist votes. But Mr Moussavi’s challenge is
attracting the support of young Iranians, who make up the majority of
the population.

The comments of Mr Moussavi suggest that Iran’s nuclear ambitions and
its dispute over them could be little affected by the June poll.

Iran has long insisted that it is ready to provide assurances about
the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme yet has not co-operated
fully with the investigations of the UN’s nuclear watchdog. Foreign
policy, moreover, is in the hands of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the
supreme leader. Mr Moussavi’s aides say that he does not envision
radical changes but is hoping to temper the radicalism of the regime
under Mr Ahmadi-Nejad.

Analysts and diplomats, however, argue that a less confrontational
figure at the presidency would facilitate nuclear talks, particularly
at a time when the US is shifting Iran policy and moving towards
engagement.

The Obama administration last week said it would from now on
participate in nuclear discussions that have been held in the past
between Iran and other world powers, and Iran has welcomed the move.

Sitting in a conference room at the Art Centre in Tehran, Mr Moussavi
acknowledged that “the role of the supreme leader is very
determining”. But he said “decisions on nuclear technology definitely
need to be based on thorough consensus at the national level”.

Mr Moussavi has sought to appeal to reformists and conservatives. Some
reformists, however, say he will not go far enough in pressing their
agenda and are backing Mr Karroubi. On the other hand, some
conservatives alienated by Mr Ahmadi-Nejad are said to be ready to
support Mr Moussavi.

One of the conservatives’ concerns is the attitude of the supreme
leader, who clashed with Mr Moussavi while serving as president of the
Islamic Republic during the 1980s.

In an apparent effort to allay the concerns, Mr Moussavi said he met
with Mr Khamenei last week in what he described as “very good and
positive” talks.

If he were elected president in June, he added, he would try to make
his policies closer to the views of the supreme leader.

Another constituency that needs reassurance is the business community,
which accuses Mr Ahmadi-Nejad of undermining a private sector reeling
from the impact of international sanctions.

Mr Moussavi is remembered as the leftist politician who ordered the
destruction of the chamber of commerce building in the 1980s after
businessmen refused to accommodate war refugees. But Mr Moussavi said
he did not recall the incident, and stressed that he believed the
country’s problems could not be resolved without the private sector.

Biography

    ● Mir-Hossein Moussavi: born in 1941 in Khameneh village, north-west Iran

    ● Graduated in architecture from Tehran and Shahid Beheshti universities

    ● Ran a state-owned newspaper and was briefly foreign minister
then prime minister from 1981-89

    ● He is now an inactive member of the expediency council and the
high cultural revolution council

    ● Since 1999 his main official job has been
    head of the state-owned Art Centre

    ● He is a painter himself with 180 works over 40 years and 11 exhibitions

<http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE53D09720090414>
Iran candidate rules out enrichment suspension: report
Tue Apr 14, 2009 2:47am BST

LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi
has ruled out suspending uranium enrichment but would work to verify
Iran was not diverting its nuclear programme for weapons, the
Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

Prime minister during Iran's 1980-88 war with Iraq, Mousavi, 67, is
seriously considered by many moderates and even some conservatives as
their main presidential candidate and a strong rival to President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in June's election.

"No one in Iran would accept suspension," he was quoted as telling the
paper on its website.

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, says its nuclear
programme is aimed at generating electricity and not covertly building
nuclear weapons, as the West suspects. It has repeatedly ruled out
halting its enrichment programme.

However, chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili was quoted as saying on
Monday that Iran would welcome constructive dialogue with six world
powers, including the United States.

The Obama administration has offered a "new beginning" of diplomatic
engagement if Iran "unclenches its fist."

Mousavi told the FT a solution to the nuclear dispute did not only
depend on Tehran. "It will also depend on the discourse the Americans
use and the issues they pursue. The more realistic they become and
recognize Iran in this issue, naturally the better the ground will be
prepared to find solutions.

"No one will retreat. But we have to see what solutions or in other
words what guarantees can be found to verify the non-diversion of the
programme into nuclear weapons," the paper's website quoted him as
saying.

A solution could be reached by "technical negotiations."

ECONOMIC PRIORITIES

When he was prime minister, Mousavi, who has stayed away from politics
and the public eye in the past 20 years, defended a state-controlled
economy, although he told a news conference this month Iran needed
privatization, the creation of jobs and foreign investment.

He told the FT he believed in the "strong presence of the private
sector," adding his economic priorities were "inflation, unemployment
and the improvement of business."

Ahmadinejad is criticized by reformists and even some of his
conservative backers for his economic policies, blamed for fuelling
inflation, which reached a peak of nearly 30 percent last year, and
wasting petro-dollars.

Inflation would be curbed "through monetary policies, imports, making
the private sector active and increasing production," the paper quoted
Mousavi as saying.

He said subsidies should be targeted. "The most important one is the
energy subsidy and we have to gradually work on it," he said, saying
it could probably be achieved in 10 years.

He also said he would consider restricting imports.

"I have to see which sections should be restricted and over what
period of time," he was quoted as saying.

"We have gone too far in opening up to imports. This has to be
revised. We have to take bigger steps to support our national
economy."

(Writing by Alison Williams; Editing by Jeremy Laurence)