Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 30 / Trend, N. Umid, S. Isayev
Iranian MP, Mohammad Soleimani has outlined conditions for normalizing relations with the United States, Tansim News portal reported.
Soleimani stated that as the first trust-building step, the U.S. should release Iran's assets which have being blocked in U.S. for the last 34 years.
Commenting on the words of the U.S. president Barack Obama, that United States does not want regime change in Iran, Soleimani said that the U.S has always been supportive of anti-revolutionary powers since 1979 revolution in Iran.
He went on to note that, Iran never forgets that the U.S. supported Iraq's overthrown president Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war in the 80s.
"The U.S. should ensure Iranian people that will never attempt to overthrow the regime of the Islamic Republic," Soleimani said, adding that the U.S. also should not intervene in Iran's internal issues.
"They should guarantee that they will never intervene in Iran's internal affairs," he said, adding that, sanctions against Iran should be lifted as well.
Soleimani went on to note that, the imposed sanctions targeted Iran's ordinary people.
"The U.S. must meet the legitimate requests of the Iranian people in practice, not in slogans," he added.
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that Tehran is prepared to start negotiations over its nuclear energy program if the US lifts illegal sanctions against the country during an interview with ABC's "This Week" program on Sunday.
"One [condition] is to dismantle its illegal sanctions against Iran that are targeting ordinary Iranians," he stated.
The Iranian foreign minister added that the resolution of Iran's nuclear issue "will be a first step, a necessary first step, towards removing the tensions and doubts and misgivings that the two sides have had about each other for the last 30-some years."
Obama and Iranian president Hassan Rouhani spoke by phone on Friday, the highest-level contact between the two countries since the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and a sign that both sides are serious about reaching a pact on Iran's nuclear program.
Obama said both men had directed their teams to work expeditiously toward an agreement on the nuclear issue.
As president, Rouhani is the head of the government but has limited powers. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the ultimate authority in Iran with final say on domestic and foreign policy, though Rouhani says he has been given full authority to negotiate on the nuclear issue.
The United States and its allies have imposed tough economic sanctions on Iran over suspicions Tehran intends to develop a nuclear capability. Iran says the program is purely peaceful.