Iran, West are suspicious of each other - diplomat

Vienna: Almost five years ago, Iran unilaterally stopped its uranium enrichment programme. The West described it as a diplomatic breakthrough; Tehran called a temporary suspension.

The respite did not last. A resentful Iran restarted its sensitive processing and enrichment programme in 2005, shortly after the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, arguing that the West had insulted the country.

During an interview in Vienna earlier in December, Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency, Asghar Soltanieh, described a "confidence deficit" on both sides.

What are the consequences of the United Nations resolutions against Iran?

The people became more and more united and supportive of the government's stand. The American administration hoped and dreamed that as a result of these resolutions, and sanctions, the Iranian government would make a hasty mistake by withdrawing from the Non-Proliferation Treaty and expelling the inspectors from Iran.

If the UN Security Council says, "Stop enriching," why not play good global citizen?

"We agreed to give a chance to suspend temporarily and voluntarily for a short time, until the agency made a technical analysis (of highly enriched components found in Iran). In June 2004, (IAEA) Director-General Mohammad Al Baradei reported that it is now proved that Iran's assertion is correct, and the source of contamination is from outside. But we found out that when they started by asking and talking of temporary suspension, they had in mind cessation... It means the Iranian nation, with thousands of years of civilisation, now has to be deprived of research and development.

What should they have done, what could they have done, to build trust instead of build suspicion?

They should have studied Iranian culture...There is a confidence deficit from our side too. We have suspicions too. They should have sat down at the negotiation table and just reviewed both sides in a very pragmatic, realistic and equal footing.

As soon as they use the notion of preconditions, it is destined to failure, because we would never accept such preconditions. This is again part of our culture, because it is humiliation. I will never accept the Americans as a superpower.