Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani -- now seeking another term as the Islamic republic's elected leader -- said Tuesday the United States has been hostile toward his country for more than 30 years. Rafsanjani told CNN the United States has taken "steps in the right direction" but must do more to prove to Iranians that it has relinquished what he called "a hostile attitude." Rafsanjani is considered the favorite to win Friday's presidential election, according to opinion polls. His chief rivals are top reformist candidate Mostafa Moin and hard-liner Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf. President Mohammad Khatami is ineligible to run. "The United States before the [Islamic Revolution of 1979], and even after the revolution, has shown hostility toward Iran," Rafsanjani said. The Bush administration has already offered two incentives to Iran for complying -- not blocking Iran's application to the World Trade Organization and allowing shipment of parts for Iran's aging commercial airliners. "Yes, I consider these steps in the right direction," said Rafsanjani, who served two terms as Iran's president from 1989 to 1997. "And we also heard another thing that President Bush has said that Iranians can have low-level uranium enrichment. If you look at these three things together, it seems the United States is choosing a new approach. But this is not enough. They need to do more. "For example, they should unfreeze our assets in the United States," he said. "Those assets belong to us. If they do that, it is a good sign that the United States has relinquished hostility toward Iran." The former president said Iran has proposed to European negotiators that it "continue with enrichment on a limited scale that has no danger of us going in a military direction." "We are going to give assurances that the enrichment will not be for military purposes," Rafsanjani said. "We have told them what we can do ... the plan we have proposed they will study, and it will be accepted by them or they will present a new proposal and then we will study the new proposal." Rafsanjani acknowledged "some failure on our side" in reporting past nuclear activities, blaming the International Atomic Energy Agency for not providing adequate assistance but saying there was "no reason for us to conceal anything." IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday that Iran is "inching forward" in providing proof its nuclear program is peaceful. He noted, however, that Iran must go beyond meeting the letter of the law in convincing the international community it will not build nuclear weapons. ElBaradei said a detailed report by IAEA inspectors deal with Iran is expected later in the week. --MORE 1117 Local Time 0817 GMT
