TEHRAN, Oct. 11 -- Former secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Hassan Rowhani on Wednesday recommended that Western countries forget about the UN Security Council and enter into serious dialogue with Iran.

“In that case, Tehran may take some steps that would increase the confidence of the other side, such as further cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency,” Rowhani told the Fars News Agency.

“The West should enter into dialogue with Iran without any specific framework, and accordingly, Iran could also sit for talks with the 5+1, and then we could reach a mutually acceptable solution,” he added.

“Suspension or sanctions is not something that Iran can accept,” the Leader’s representative to the SNSC noted.

“We will reach a conclusion if the West announces that it is prepared to talk to Iran and provides a proper timetable for this.

“This is dependent on the West forgetting about the Security Council and engaging in serious negotiations with Iran. They announced that their only concern is that Iran might turn to nuclear weapons, although our country has announced repeatedly that it has no intention to do so.

“Putting Iran in a situation that has only two options, sanctions or suspension, is not acceptable.

“If the West is really worried about Iran’s potential access to nuclear weapons, Iran has solutions for them.

“Formerly, we agreed on a formula with France and Jacques Chirac in which Iran would conduct (uranium) enrichment and the West’s concerns would be allayed that, unfortunately, faced U.S. opposition.

“The German government agreed with the plan, but the U.S. prevented Britain from agreeing with it and it was halted.

“There are other formulas for enrichment which we can compromise on. If the West stops making threats, most likely a compromise can be reached.”

The issue is not so complicated so as to compel the two sides to declare that there is no way to reach a compromise, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator said.

Rowhani stressed that Iran would never relinquish its inalienable rights.

“We have repeatedly declared that we seek to reach self-sufficiency in nuclear fuel production, and we cannot be dependent on other countries.”