US not ignoring rights abuses in engagement with Iran – diplomat

Washington, 11 November (WashingtonTV)—A senior US diplomat said on Tuesday that the Obama administration would not ignore the human rights situation in Iran during its engagement with Tehran over its nuclear program.

Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns said that the U.S. and the entire international community continued to bear witness to the Iranian people’s “courageous pursuit of universal rights, in the face of appalling brutality, and the sad spectacle of show trials and mass arrests.”

“While we remain ready to engage the Iranian government on the urgent matter of its nuclear program, and on other matters of common concern, that does not mean that we will turn a blind eye to abuse, or compromise our principles,” he said in a speech to the Middle East Institute, a Washington-based think-tank.

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, has criticized the Obama administration’s efforts to engage Iran, saying the focus of talks should be on the human rights record there, and not its nuclear ambitions.

Burns said that Washington seeks a relationship with Tehran based on “mutual interest and mutual respect.”

“We do not seek regime change,” in Iran, he stressed, adding that the two countries should move beyond their “troubled past”.

“With our partners in the international community, we are ready to move with Iran along a pathway of cooperation, not confrontation, of integration, not animosity,” he said.

Burns noted that such cooperation depended on Iran meeting its international obligations.

Burns, who led the US delegation at talks between Iran and six powers last month in Geneva, praised the 1 October talks as a “constructive beginning”, but said Iran’s moves in recent weeks “have been far less encouraging.”

The U.S. and its partners “are not interested in talking simply for the sake of talking,” he warned.

“It is time for Iran to decide whether it wants to focus on the past, or to move beyond it; whether it wants to dwell on familiar suspicions and imaginary external enemies, or make a positive choice about the role that it seeks to play in the world,” said Burns.

Burns was speaking one week after the 30^th anniversary of the takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, which he branded as “one of the most painful, and shameful, episodes” in the US-Iran relationship.

The anniversary “is a vivid reminder that the hostility between our governments has cost both our nations dearly,” he said.

In a statement marking the anniversary, President Barack Obama said on 4 November that he wants the U.S. and Iran to move beyond “suspicion, mistrust and confrontation.”

Source: WashingtonTV correspondent, White House website

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