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No "substantial changes" in domestic, foreign policies expected from Iran's new parliament
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2012-03-08 10:57

No "substantial changes" in domestic and foreign policies can be expected from Iran's new parliament, an Iranian expert said Wednesday.

With Monday's announcement of the results of the first round of Iran's parliamentary elections, the conservatives took an unchallengeable lead over their rival candidates.

Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said in the first round of elections, the vote count of which ended on Monday, 225 out of the 290 seats were filled and the fate of the 65 others will be decided in the run-offs, which are likely to be held in late April.

Explaining views about the outcome of almost four-fifths of the would-be composition of the Iranian parliament, or Majlis, Dr. Sadeq Zibakalam, a professor of political science from Iran's prestigious Tehran University, told Xinhua Wednesday that "I don't see any substantial changes ... in the Majlis that we will be having in the future."

"The upcoming Majlis will not be very different from the current one. In both of them, the conservatives have the upper hand," Zibakalam argued.

As far as the major issues including the country's nuclear program are concerned, Iran will carry out its nuclear enrichment activities, Zibakalam said. "Nothing will change as far as foreign policy (of the Islamic republic) is concerned."

However, he said he is "optimistic" about the resumption of talks with the world's major powers in the near future.

The six world powers that used to engage in nuclear talks have accepted an offer from Iran to revive negotiations after months of stalemate, a top diplomat from the European Union (EU) said Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she has received a letter in February from Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, who said Tehran wanted to reopen negotiations with the six powers -- the three EU countries of France, Britain and Germany, plus China, Russia and the United States.

Ashton said she has accepted the offer on behalf of the six countries to resume talks in her reply to Jalili. However, the date and venue for the talks are yet to be decided, she added.

"We hope that Iran will now enter a sustained process of constructive dialogue which will deliver real progress in resolving the international community's long-standing concerns on its nuclear program," she said.

On Tuesday, the office of Iran's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) representative in Vienna said in a statement that Iran would allow the UN nuclear watchdog to visit the Parchin military base after some modalities are decided. A report issued by the IAEA in February said Iran failed to allow the IAEA high-ranking delegation, which visited Tehran twice recently, to visit the Parchin site.

Asked whether Iran will make some concessions in the upcoming nuclear talks, Zibakalam said "it is not impossible."

He said it is also possible that, on the basis of agreements that Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (G5+1) may reach in the talks, some kinds of "solutions can be found so that both parties are satisfied."

As for the possibility of a military conflict if Iran fails to make concessions over its nuclear program, Zibakalam said "the military conflict will only start when there is solid evidence, solid proof, that Iran is on the verge of producing atomic weapons."

So far, intelligence agencies of the United States and Israel have not found any decisive evidence showing that Iran is producing atomic weapons, he added.

U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday rejected the notion that Washington has to decide over the next two months whether to launch a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. He said war is not "a game."

Addressing a press conference at the White House, the president reiterated he believed "a window of opportunity" exists at this stage for a diplomatic resolution to the standoff over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

"This notion that somehow we have a choice to make in the next week or two weeks or month or two months is not borne out by the facts," he said.

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TEHRAN, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Chairman of Iran's Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi-Kani said Tuesday that the mass turnout in the recent parliamentary elections in the country was "a great event."Full story

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Source:Xinhua 
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