Iran tells Russia of plan to solve world problems

Iran’s top national security official Saeed Jalili.

Iran’s top national security official on Monday held talks with his Russian counterpart about a new Iranian package aimed at solving world problems, including the nuclear standoff with the West.

“The package is about the great questions of the world and the nuclear question could be the subject of discussion,” Iran’s top national security official Saeed Jalili said after talks with Russia’s Valentin Sobolev.

Jalili gave no further details over the contents of the package, which appears to be an all-embracing attempt to solve the problems of the world rather than a specific offer to end the nuclear crisis.

“Our approach could be a good basis for negotiation between the influential powers of the world,” he said.

The package appears to emphasise what Iran sees as its growing power in the world and the supposed decline of the great world powers such as Britain and the United States.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said in recent weeks that Iran is the most powerful nation in the world and capitalist superpowers are on the verge of collapse.

Ahmadinejad appointed his close ally Jalili as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council in a surprise move last year, replacing the more moderate Ali Larijani.

“The world is no longer unilateral,” Jalili told a news conference alongside Sobolev, who is the acting head of Russia’s security council.

“There are different powers in the world. Decisions should be made taking into account these different powers and the capacity and power of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the world,” said Jalili.

He added that the package would not yet be made public.

It would be a major surprise if the package contained any concession from Iran to break the deadlock in the nuclear standoff as Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said Tehran will not cede an inch in the dispute.

The West fears Tehran wants to use nuclear technology to make an atomic weapon but Iran insists the drive is peaceful and solely aimed at providing energy for a growing population.

Sobolev meanwhile praised the expansion of relations “in all areas” between Tehran and Russia. He made no comment at the news conference about the new Iranian package.

Sobolev later also met with Gholamreza Aghazadeh, the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organisation.

The Iranian official reviewed nuclear projects “which could permit ties between the two countries in the civilian nuclear field to be developed,” without endangering third countries, he told reporters.

Aghazadeh said they also discussed Russia’s role in building other nuclear plants in Iran.

Russia is building Iran’s first nuclear power station in the southern city of Bushehr, a much delayed project due to come online in 2008. It is also contracted to supply the nuclear fuel for the facility.

With robust political and economic ties with Tehran, Moscow has played a key role in the nuclear standoff.

It has repeatedly urged the West to solve the crisis through diplomacy but as a veto-wielding UN Security Council permanent member it has also backed three resolutions imposing sanctions against Tehran.

Moscow has also bluntly told Tehran it currently has no need to enrich uranium on its own soil and should obey the resolutions’ calls to stop the process, which can be used to make nuclear weapons.