President Rohani Meets Austrian Counterpart

New York, Sept 25, IRNA – Presidents of Iran and Austria met before noon on Tuesday local time on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and exchanged viewpoints on bilateral ties, regional and international developments. President Hassan Rohani referred to the significance of comprehensive relations between Iran and Austria, saying, Despite the existence of problems in the course of the past few years, the Islamic Republic of Iran has received positive messages from Austria. Rohani pointed out that the nuclear activities of Iran have thus far been merely for peaceful purposes and that is the way they would also be in the future, adding that the entire nuclear activities of the Islamic Republic of Iran are under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The Iranian president reiterated, The Islamic Republic of Iran has always been opposed to production, stockpiling and proliferation of nuclear weapons and has accepted the legal commitments in this respect. Rohani meanwhile pointed out that the Islamic Republic of Iran is also opposed to any type of unconventional weapons, including chemical weapons, saying, “Iran has always tried to remove the anxieties around its nuclear activities.” The president said that easing the anxieties would only be possible through constructive interactions, reiterating, “Sanctions and threatening have never been acceptable in dealing with nations and the Islamic Republic of Iran considers the unilaterally imposed sanctions by the EU against the Iranian nation ineffective and harming in the process of resolving the existing problems.” The president also expressed hope that the imposed sanctions against the Iranian nation would be lifted and said that the banking sanctions, and more important than that the medical sanctions are inhumane deeds. The Austrian President Hans Fischer, too, in the meeting referred to the record of his previous meetings with the Islamic Republic of Iran officials, saying, “Austria would try to resolve the existing problems in Iran-EU relations within the next six months.” Rohani also met with French President Francois Hollande on Tuesday and discussed the crisis in Syria and Irans nuclear energy program. Later in the day, Rohani met with Pakistani Prime Minister Mohammad Nawaz Sharif and Fijian Prime Minister Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, too, met with the Iranian president on Tuesday night. Rohani is to address the UN General Assembly later in the day. On September 25, Rohani is due to address the special session of the Nuclear Disarmament Conference as the current chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). He will also address foreign ministers of the NAM, which is an international organization with 120 member states. Nearly two-thirds of the member countries of the UN are also NAM members. In addition, the Iranian president is expected to meet with world leaders, American scholars, US Muslim leaders, and a group of Iranian expatriates on the sidelines of the General Assembly session./end