TEHRAN – On Friday, Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani called on Western countries to return to the negotiating table and cautioned them against creating trouble over Iran’s nuclear program.

“The United States and other Western countries must be careful and think about the consequences of their actions,” he told worshippers at Friday prayers in Tehran. Addressing the U.S. and some Western European states, he said, “I seriously emphasize: Do not cause inconvenience for us, yourselves, and the region, and avoid any action that might make trouble for others.”

Iran undoubtedly seeks to build confidence about the nature of its nuclear activities in a transparent and calm atmosphere, Rafsanjani added. Referring to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Mohamed ElBaradei’s report on Iran’s nuclear program, which was issued later on Friday, Rafsanjani said, “ElBaradei’s report will be the basis of decisions.”

The Islamic Republic does not seek to use its nuclear activities for military purposes, he asserted.

It is impossible to order Iran to halt its scientific activities, he said, adding, “This would be a historic mistake, and nobody can halt indigenous expertise.

“It is possible to order a country to halt its imports and exports, but it is impossible to order somebody not to think.”

He compared the nuclear issue to the attempts of Galileo to prove that the planets move around the sun, saying, “Nobody believed Galileo in those days, but today (everyone knows that) all planets revolve around the sun.”

Rafsanjani also stated that Iran must take vigilant and honest steps and prayed that God would keep Iran safe from the evil intentions of its enemies.

Meanwhile, Expediency Council Strategic Research Center Director Hassan Rowhani expressed hope on Friday that Iran’s uranium enrichment breakthrough would cause the Westerners to return to the negotiating table to find a solution to the nuclear dispute.

Speaking to the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), he said that Iran should strengthen its diplomatic efforts and pave the way for negotiations, despite the fact that the IAEA makes politically motivated decisions on the nuclear issue.

“Although the IAEA is a legal-technical body, it is mostly politicized because its final decisions are made by the 35 countries which are on the IAEA Board of Governors,” the former secretary general of the Supreme National Security Council observed.

He stated that the IAEA Board of Governors has been divided into three blocs: the United States and its allies, the Europeans, and the Non-Aligned Movement countries together with Russia and China.

“This shows that what is going on in the IAEA is political. We knew this all along and negotiated with the Europeans because we knew that it was necessary to conduct political as well as legal-technical work in the IAEA,” he added.