Iranian conservative candidate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won country's ninth presidential election run-off with the support by majority voters and will take office in early August. The result is beyond the expectation of many western observers. Some influential European and American media made analyses and guesses about Iran's foreign policy in the future.

It can be said that the relations between Iran and European and American countries are in a critical period. According to an agreement reached on May 25 at an Iran-EU ministerial meeting, the two sides will resume nuclear talks in August, which had came to a deadlock. However, the prospects of the talks are not yet clear. The relations between Iran and the United States have been severed for one-quarter century since the Islamic Revolution, which broke out in Iran in 1979. While regarded by the US as a main obstacle to its pursuit of global hegemony and its "Greater Middle East Democratic Plan", Iran elected a hard-line conservative president. As a result, the orientation of relations between the two countries cannot but draw more attention.

Ahmadinejad on June 26 made clear the foreign policy of his government at his first press conference since the election. He said Iran would continue peaceful utilization of nuclear energy. "We need the peaceful nuclear technology to be applied in energy, medicine, agriculture and science. The nuclear technology Iran uses for peaceful purposes is the achievement made by Iranian scientists, and we will keep it up." Ahmadinejad said "We will continue to hold talks with Germany, France and Britain while safeguarding our national interests." On the relations with the US, he said, Iran will not -- and it is not necessary -- improve its relations with the US as long as Washington takes a hostile attitude towards Iran. It can be seen from such remarks that Ahmadinejad will not make much change to Iran's long-pursued foreign policy as he made no indication that the door to dialogue is closed.

On the nuclear issue, it has always been Iran's bottom line not to give up the right to pursue a peaceful nuclear program, which, as Iran pointed out, concerns the national dignity. So, no matter which leader from which faction comes to power, it is impossible for Iran to abandon its fixed position on peaceful use of nuclear energy. It will persist in safeguarding the national interests in the talks with the EU.

At the same time, under the circumstance that the Bush administration continues to label Iran an "evil axis" and makes no promise of giving up force against Iran, it will be impossible for Iranian leaders to seek an improvement of relations with the US in the short run. People should be able to notice that although elected, Ahmadinejad, as a conservative, still advocates continuing negotiation with the EU. Talking of the US, he neither used extreme wording like some US officials did when talking about other countries, nor did he seriously accuse US ally Israel. Such signs, it seems, also should not be overlooked.

For Ahmadinejad who won the election with the support of large numbers of low-and medium-income voters, what he will focus on first after taking office will be the issues closely linked to people's livelihood such as the development of domestic economy, social justice and the reduction of unemployment, which he had repeatedly stressed during his election campaign. While handling such issues, Iran definitely needs a favorable external environment, therefore it is unlikely that it will take a challenging attitude in its relations with the Western countries.

Iran is an ancient civilization with a history of thousands of years. In recent years, the stand for "civilized dialogue" it put forward has drawn much attention from the international community and reflected its wish to have exchanges with other civilizations including those in the West. For such a big nation, the second largest oil-exporting country of OPEC with a territory of more than 1.6 million square kilometers and a population of nearly 70 million, it is unadvisable for the Western world to simply impose pressure on it or threaten it. On the contrary, it will be a reasonable choice to solve disputes through dialogue and negotiation.

By People's Daily Online