"We stopped any kind of enrichment for two years. What was the result? Nothing. Every day they used to put an extra claim on their former claims. Why must we repeat this experience?" Ali Akbar Velayati said in an exclusive interview with AP on Monday.
He said the election of President Hassan Rouhani could be a test of the goodwill of Western countries. Rouhani’s moderate policy, which sticks to the principles, gives an opportunity to the West and they should use it, he added.
Velayati, however, stressed that the Rouhani administration will follow the same trend strategically as the former administration.
"Repeating the same language that we had before, I don't think it is useful. We have to talk with a different language. The same purposes but a different language," he stated.
Velayati also touched on the likelihood of direct Tehran-Washington talks in the future, saying such negotiations would not start unless the United States changed its behavior toward Iran.
The US, Israel and some of their allies falsely claim that Iran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear energy program, with Washington and the European Union using the unfounded allegation as a pretext to impose illegal sanctions on Iran.
Tehran strongly rejects the groundless claim over its nuclear activities, maintaining that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), it has the right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Meanwhile, numerous inspections of Iran's nuclear facilities by the IAEA have never found any evidence showing that the Iranian nuclear energy program has been diverted toward non-civilian purposes.
