TEHRAN – Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said here on Friday that Iran’s nuclear negotiating partners are trying to hinder Iran’s development and are adopting inappropriate approaches in order to deprive the Islamic Republic of its legal rights.

In a sermon delivered at Friday prayers at the University of Tehran, Rafsanjani stated that even the enemies confirm Iran’s right to nuclear energy, but they are oppressively seeking to deprive the country of this right by illegitimately using their influence, especially in international fora.

The West has been dealing with Iran’s nuclear dossier unfairly and in inappropriate ways, he added.

“The West wants to trample upon Iran’s rights oppressively and tie the hands of a country which has advanced on its own,” he asserted.

If the idea of globalization is about using discrimination, veto powers, privileges, and collusion to infringe upon others’ rights, then globalization will be a disaster for humanity, Rafsanjani observed.

He advised the West not to create problems for the world, the region, themselves, and Iran. Rafsanjani also said that only the faintest signs of rationality, wisdom, and logic can be observed in the West's approach toward Iran's nuclear program, adding, "Such an illogical approach can lead to the emergence of problems for the world, the region, and Iran."

Acquiring peaceful nuclear energy is Iran’s inalienable right, the EC chairman pointed out.

Commenting on the bombings of the holy shrines of the tenth and eleventh Shia Imams, Imam Hadi (AS) and Imam Hassan Askari (AS), in Samara, Iraq, he said that if the global arrogance succeeds in preventing the Islamic world from uniting at this juncture, it can achieve its goal, which is the creation of division between Muslims.

“The enemies intend to sow the seeds of dissension and civil war in Iraq and other Islamic states. All the world’s Muslims should be vigilant enough to thwart the enemies’ plots,” he cautioned.

On the publication of caricatures deemed insulting to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his household), Rafsanjani said the measure was meant to create animosity between Christians and Muslims.