Roundup: Iran dismisses Israeli PM's nuke remarks at U.S. Congress

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani dismissed on Wednesday the remarks by Israeli prime minister about a potential agreement, saying that his country is ready to show further transparency concerning its nuclear program.

On Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a joint session of the U.S. Congress that "we are better off without a bad deal with Iran."

He claimed that a potential final negotiated deal will make "major concessions" to Iran by leaving it with "a vast nuclear infrastructure" and providing it with "a short break-out time to the bomb," as well as by lifting all the restrictions on its nuclear program in about a decade.

To help the advancement of ongoing nuclear talks, Iran is ready to show further transparency concerning its nuclear program but does not accept conditions beyond that, the Iranian president said.

"If the talks are about further transparency (by Iran over its nuclear program), Iran will accept it," Rouhani said, adding that "we will never seal a deal which overlooks the Iranians' inalienable right to progress scientifically and technologically."

"We seek a contract which will help Iran, the region and the world," he said in the administration meeting.

The P5+1 group, namely the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, hope to adopt a logical stance with foresight which respects nations' interests and is considerate of the stability of the Middle East, he said.

On Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman, Marzieh Afkham, urged both sides engaged in the nuclear talks to seize the opportunity and use best of the time in an attempt to narrow the differences over Tehran's nuclear issue.

"Intensive negotiations are underway" between Iran and the United States, and "the talks are continued at legal, technical and political levels," Afkham said, adding that the imposed sanctions against the country has also been one of the "serious topics" in the recent talks between the two states.

The Islamic republic has called for the "removal of all sanctions from the very beginning of the talks" one year and a half ago, and Iran is still insisting on that, she said.

Commenting on the speech of the Israeli prime minister in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday, Afkham said Wednesday that "the prime minister of the Zionist regime had nothing new in his speech, and he has been immersed in his mistakes and radical stances."

Netanyahu's speech was a "show full of deception" and was the sign of "weakness and isolation" of the radicals in Israel and their attempts to influence the international policies, Afkham said.

"There is no doubt that the global public opinion no longer respects the (Israeli) regime of child-killer," she said alluding to the Israeli attack on Gaza Strip last year.

The repetitive lies of Netanyahu about Iran's nuclear program are "boring," she said, reiterating that Iran has strong will to solve "the fabricated crisis" of the country's nuclear issue.

Representatives from Iran and the United States held a fresh round of bilateral talks in Switzerland over the past three days as part of intensifying efforts by the six major countries to map the outlines of a comprehensive deal by the end of March and a final pact by the end of June. Endit