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Ahmadinejad defiant over Iran’s nuclear stance Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday vowed Iran would not comply with demands from the West and the United Nations to suspend its uranium enrichment project. The hardline leader’s comments came as Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at defusing the international standoff. But Mr Ahmadinejad appeared to be in no mood for a compromise. “Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: Be angry at us and die of this anger,” official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying. “We won’t hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian nation (to enrich uranium).” “Today, our situation has changed completely. We are a nuclear country and speak to others from the position of a nuclear country,” IRNA quoted the President as saying. Iranian Gen Hassan Firouzabadi, armed forces’ Joint Chief of Staff, echoed Mr Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric. “When people master nuclear technology and nuclear fuel, nothing can be done against them. The West can do nothing and is obliged to extend to us the hand of friendship,” the General said. Mr ElBaradei, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, is to report back to the UN Security Council at the end of this month on whether Tehran is complying with its demand to stop all enrichment activity by April 28. He said he would try to persuade Iranian authorities to meet international demands for “confidence-building measures, including suspension of uranium enrichment, until outstanding issues are clarified”. In 2003, it was discovered that Iran had carried out secret nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and some countries, including the US, claim that Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons, which Iran denies. The Iranians say their goal is peaceful nuclear power. One of five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China, meanwhile, announced it was sending a senior envoy to Iran and Russia to urge restraint. China has opposed the use of economic sanctions or military action against Iran in favour of diplomacy. “We express concern about Iran’s announcement. We express worry about where this issue is heading,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jiandao. “We hope the relevant parties can take measures to stop the issue escalating.” In a report in the New York Times on Thursday, Western analysts said Iran lacked the skills, materials and equipment to make good on its immediate nuclear ambitions. They said nothing had changed to alter current estimates of when Iran might be able to make a single nuclear weapon, assuming that is its ultimate goal, the paper reported, noting that the US has “put that at five to 10 years, and some analysts have said it could come as late as 2020”. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Wednesday that the UN Security Council must consider “strong steps” to persuade Iran to change course. “This is not a question of Iran’s right to civil nuclear power. This is a question of that the world does not believe that Iran should have the capability and the technology that could lead to a nuclear weapon,” she said.  |
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