Iran: A former Iranian president called international pressure over Iran's atomic programme a scandal yesterday, but described terms under which the country would agree to snap nuclear inspections.
Under intense US pressure, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) set an October 31st deadline for Iran to prove it is not seeking atomic weapons. Iran has always denied the charge.
"The hypocritical policy of the Americans and Westerners has no justification. This is a scandal," Mr Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani told worshippers at prayers at Tehran University yesterday.
He said the Islamic republic was willing to sign up to snap inspections, but only if it were granted the same terms he insisted the US was demanding for itself.
The US has signed, but not yet ratified, the so-called Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that would permit snap inspections of nuclear sites.
"Our conditions . . . are the same as those the Americans want," said Mr Rafsanjani, who heads the Expediency Council, a powerful body that arbitrates between the predominantly reformist parliament and Iran's religious hardliners. - (Reuters)