Kasrils Denies Praising Iran Nuclear Policy

Ronnie Kasrils has refuted claims made by the Iranian media that he had praised their nuclear ambitions. The Islamic Republic News Agency originally reported that the South African Intelligence Minister has 'praised Iran's wise stand regarding its nuclear program.’

Earlier this month South Africa backed resolution 1747 against Iran (after distributing a working paper questioning the need for sanctions and the councils wisdom) which called for financial sanctions and an arms embargo against that country.

In light of this resolution it is thought that the reports about Kasrils out of Iran had caused much embarrassment to South Africa and so Kasrils is now refuting the quotes attributed to him.

Kasrils refutes Iranian media claim

Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils has denied Iranian media reports claiming he "praised" that country's stance on its nuclear programme. "I did not use the terminology as reported by the Iranian media at all... for the record, I had fully endorsed the South African government's position in my meeting with the Supreme National Security Council's Secretary Ali Larijan," he said in a statement on Friday.

Comments

[Steve Hayes]

Did he actually refute it or only deny it?

[mike]

He denied it. Said he did not say it.

[Steve]

Ya, just to clarify, he did not retract the statement, I.e. he did not take it back - that would meen that he had admitted to saying it. He denied that he said it at all. Or...rather to quote him, he denied using that "terminology" that was quoted.

Semantics...

[THE DICTATOR / EMBITTERED CORRESPONDENT]

South African foreign policy re Iran seems to be in a shambles. It
raises important questions about how it is being conducted. I would
imagine that Kasrils would not have felt uncomfortable praising Iranian
nuclear developments but perhaps South Africa's officials at the
foreign office and United Nations viewed the matter differently.
Has Kasrils been damaged politically by this "Iranian??" faux pas or
is it just "heavy water" off the Minister Of Intelligence's back?

[THE DICTATOR / EMBITTERED CORRESPONDENT]

The question remains... why did Kasrils visit Larijani? Was he informing Larijani that South Africa would support Iran's uncooperative position re uranium enrichment?
Kasril's press statement is bland. it might be adequate for the press here but the EU and US would view its amicable tone more critically.

Most sections of the South African media have still not reported Kasrils trip to Iran. ITS ALMOST SUPERNATURAL should comment on this and draw its own conclusions. Why is The Mail and Guardian shtumm?

[mike]

Anthony, you raise some interesting points. I unfortunately do not have the answers.

• Why was Kasrils sent? We have a foreign minister and 2 deputy foreign ministers who certainly are more qualified for the task. I fail to see what this visit had to do with Intelligence. As I have said before Kasrils seems to act more as the minister of Totalitarian Affairs than Intelligence.
• I can not prove if Kasrils did or did not make those comments. All I can conclude is that South Africa officially does not support Iran’s current illegal nuclear behaviour. (Which I think is a very good thing)
• The SA media is a disgrace. It should certainly have been covered more widely. Why do you think it has not been? I don’t think South Africans understand the significance of our new UNSC status. If I was the editor of say the M&G I would have a weekly UN watch page so South Africans could see what our representatives have been up to. As a self-criticism, I feel we have not even covered this enough.