Tehran dubs IAEA chief as US pawn
Source: Agencies |
November 9, 2011, Wednesday
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IRAN'S President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday criticized the head of the United Nations nuclear agency as an American pawn in the run-up to its expected release of a report said to document Tehran's nuclear weapons program.
Ahmadinejad said Iran will not stop its nuclear development, adopting a defiant stance in advance of the report which could spur efforts for new sanctions against his country.
"If you think you can change the situation of the world through putting pressures on Iran, you are dead wrong. The Iranian nation will not withdraw an iota," Ahmadinejad said.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, not weapons production.
The report, set to be issued today, suggests that Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and includes satellite imagery of a large steel container the International Atomic Energy Agency believes is used for nuclear arms-related high explosives tests, diplomats said.
In remarks broadcast on state television, Ahmadinejad said that IAEA chief Yukiya Amano was simply repeating Unites States' allegations. "He delivers the papers that American officials hand to him," Ahmadinejad said.
"I am sorry that a person is heading the agency who has no power by himself and violates the agency's regulations, too," the Iranian president said.
He repeated Iran's stance that it is not involved in making a nuclear weapon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday if Iran wanted to develop nuclear weapons, it would declare so openly, "but our reason and experience tell us that, for us, nuclear weapons would not serve as a deterrent." Salehi spoke during a visit to neighboring Armenia.
US officials say their government will use the IAEA report as leverage in making its case to other countries that sanctions against Iran should be expanded and toughened and that the enforcement of current sanctions should be tightened.
In the run-up to the report's release, Israel has been referring to the possibility of a military attack.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio yesterday he is skeptical the international community would impose crippling sanctions on Iran after the report's release, and Israel will continue to recommend that no option be taken off the table. Israel considers Iran its most dangerous enemy.
In an apparent response to Barak, Iran's Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi yesterday warned Iran would hit back if attacked. "Any adventurous and hostile act against Iran will face a strong, swift and stern response by the Iranian armed forces," he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.
Ahmadinejad said Iran will not stop its nuclear development, adopting a defiant stance in advance of the report which could spur efforts for new sanctions against his country.
"If you think you can change the situation of the world through putting pressures on Iran, you are dead wrong. The Iranian nation will not withdraw an iota," Ahmadinejad said.
Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, not weapons production.
The report, set to be issued today, suggests that Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and includes satellite imagery of a large steel container the International Atomic Energy Agency believes is used for nuclear arms-related high explosives tests, diplomats said.
In remarks broadcast on state television, Ahmadinejad said that IAEA chief Yukiya Amano was simply repeating Unites States' allegations. "He delivers the papers that American officials hand to him," Ahmadinejad said.
"I am sorry that a person is heading the agency who has no power by himself and violates the agency's regulations, too," the Iranian president said.
He repeated Iran's stance that it is not involved in making a nuclear weapon.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said yesterday if Iran wanted to develop nuclear weapons, it would declare so openly, "but our reason and experience tell us that, for us, nuclear weapons would not serve as a deterrent." Salehi spoke during a visit to neighboring Armenia.
US officials say their government will use the IAEA report as leverage in making its case to other countries that sanctions against Iran should be expanded and toughened and that the enforcement of current sanctions should be tightened.
In the run-up to the report's release, Israel has been referring to the possibility of a military attack.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio yesterday he is skeptical the international community would impose crippling sanctions on Iran after the report's release, and Israel will continue to recommend that no option be taken off the table. Israel considers Iran its most dangerous enemy.
In an apparent response to Barak, Iran's Defense Minister General Ahmad Vahidi yesterday warned Iran would hit back if attacked. "Any adventurous and hostile act against Iran will face a strong, swift and stern response by the Iranian armed forces," he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.
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