Thursday, September 12th 2013

Rally against the Iranian nuclear chief / Criticism against Fischer for meeting Rouhani

STOP THE BOMB to protest against Salehi, criticizes meeting Fischer-Rouhani

The coalition STOP THE BOMB will be holding a rally on Monday, 16 September 2013, 09:30AM at the Vienna International Center to protest against the appearance of Ali Akbar Salehi at the IAEA General Conference. The spokesperson of STOP THE BOMB, Stefan Schaden, reminds of the fact that Salehi served as the Iranian regime’s nuclear chief from 2009 until 2011: “Salehi embodies the continuity of the Iranian regime’s unchanged nuclear aspirations. He was on the EU sanctions list with good reason. Later Salehi became Ahmadinejad’s foreign minister and absurdly was taken off the list. We demand to put him back on the EU sanctions list.”

Salehi’s threats against regime critics

During Salehi’s last visit to Vienna as foreign minister in February he was received by Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger and openly threatened critics of the Iranian regime. In an interview with the Austrian daily “Wiener Zeitung” Salehi urged critics like STOP THE BOMB to be “cautious” or they “could end up in problem situations”. Schaden stresses: “Salehi’s remarks show again that dialogue with this regime, which has killed thousands of opposition members, is impossible. We are eager to know whether journalists or representatives of the Austrian Foreign Affairs Ministry will confront Salehi with his threats against regime critics he made on Austrian soil.”

Criticism against Fischer for planned meeting with Rouhani

Stephan Grigat, scientific director and co-founder of STOP THE BOMB, criticizes the plan for a meeting between Austrian President Heinz Fischer and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York: “President Rouhani solely stands for a new tactic that is to buy the Ayatollahs more time and to ease the sanctions. Even after Rouhani’s election the Supreme Leader and other regime officials have reinforced their annihilation threats against Israel. Nothing has changed with the brutal oppression of the Iranian population. Since the elections more than 140 people have been executed. The nuclear and missiles programs have been extended according to the IAEA. In this situation negotiations only offer the regime more time for further uranium enrichment and plutonium production. This has to be clearly prevented by the means of tighter sanctions. The planned meeting of the Austrian President with Rouhani is a completely wrong signal. Or does Austria really want to act again as a reliable partner of the Holocaust denying regime in Tehran as it did in the past?”