INTERNATIONAL: We're Out on Peaceful Path, Says 'Fully Nuclear' Iran

Aug 29, 06:02 PM

Current Headlines: By John Ashton

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday reiterated that Tehran has achieved full proficiency in the nuclear fuel cycle and warned the West that dialogue and friendship - not threats - were the right way to deal with Iran.

"Today, Iran is a nuclear Iran," Ahmadinejad told a press conference in Tehran. "That means, it fully possesses the whole nuclear fuel cycle."

Ahmadinejad, however, said his country was committed to a "peaceful path" in pursuing its controversial nuclear programme.

Ahmadinejad's comments followed an announcement yesterday by the International Atomic Energy Agency which said that Tehran was offering some co-operation in the agency's probe of an alleged secret uranium processing project linked by US intelligence to a nuclear arms programme.

The IAEA has said that Tehran also outlined its timetable for providing other sensitive information sought by the Vienna, Austria- based UN watchdog in its investigation of over two decades of nuclear activity by the Islamic republic, most of it clandestine until revealed more than four years ago.

The US criticised the deal with the IAEA, saying the agreement won't save Iran from a third set of UN Security Council sanctions for refusing to halt uranium enrichment.

Some in the IAEA have suggested Washington may be trying to derail important progress in the Iranian nuclear negotiations, in a drive to impose new UN penalties.

At the presser in Tehran, Ahmadinejad said the US president was a "wicked, selfish and arrogant" leader who has abused the UN Security Council in a push to stop Iran's nuclear programme.

Although the Iranian leader did not name George Bush, his remarks were clearly addressed to his US counterpart.

"You saw that your coercion ... was futile," Ahmdinejad said. "Some wicked and selfish leaders stood arrogantly behind the podium to say, 'we won't let them do this' ... You sold out your prestige and stood against a cultured nation... I recommend that don't repeat this ugly behaviour."

The US and its allies fear Tehran is using its civilian nuclear programme as a cover to produce atomic weapons. Iran denies the charge, saying its programme is solely geared toward generating electricity.

Uranium conversion is the chemical process that changes raw uranium into the gas fed into centrifuges and spun repeatedly to separate out isotopes. Low enriched uranium can be used to make energy - which Iran insists is its only goal. But highly enriched uranium is used to make nuclear weapons.

Najjar's comments sparked a warning from Israel, which views Iran as a danger. "All countries of the Middle East, Israel included, are concerned about expansionist Iranian policies, and about their aggressive military arms buildup," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev.

"There is no doubt that the regime in Tehran poses a very real threat to the peace and security of the region as a whole."

Ahmadinejad dismissed the possibility of any US military action against Tehran, saying Washington has no plan and is not in a position to take such action.

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