Iran 'will continue to acquire nuclear technology'
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei today said his country would continue to acquire nuclear technology and challenge what he called “Western fabrications”.
Speaking to a crowd of thousands in Semnan, a city 150 miles east of Tehran, Khamenei said most countries believed that “nuclear energy should be taken away from the hands of a few powers,” state media reported.
“The Americans open their mouth and close their eyes and say whatever they want, such as ’the world opposes enrichment',” Khamenei said, referring to Iran’s enrichment of uranium which the United Nations has said must cease.
“No,” Khamenei replied, addressing the United States, “it is you who do not know and does not see the world.”
“In a glorious way, the Iranian nation – with awareness, an informed generation and reason – has challenged Western fabrications and will go ahead strongly,” Khamenei said.
The supreme leader, whose word is final on key decisions, spoke as the UN Security Council powers continued to wrangle over how to respond to Iran’s refusal to obey the world body’s demand that it halt uranium enrichment until the full scope of its nuclear programme has been verifiably established.
The United States and its European allies fear that Iran could use enrichment to build nuclear weapons, and have proposed a raft of sanctions to try to curb the country’s nuclear development. Russia and China share those concerns, but seek much softer measures to induce Iran’s co-operation.
Iran denies plans to build atomic bombs, saying it is merely trying to harness nuclear energy to generate electricity.
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