Iran hits out over nuclear weapon report
Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called the head of the UN’s nuclear agency an American pawn in the run-up to the release of evidence claiming to reveal Tehran’s nuclear weapons programme.
He said Iran will not withdraw from its controversial nuclear activities, which Tehran says are not geared toward weapons production.
The Iranian leader seemed to be striking a defiant stance in the face of increased pressure from traditional adversaries like the US, as well as the more sympathetically-inclined China. The UN Security Council hopes that Tehran will suspend nuclear enrichment and start negotiations on its nuclear program – which it refuses to do.
On state television Mr Ahmadinejad said that International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano was simply repeating US allegations. “He delivers the papers that American officials hand on him,” he 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 again reiterated Iran’s claim that it is not involved in making a nuclear weapon. “They should know that if we want to remove the hand of the US from the world, we do not need bombs and hardware. We work based on thoughts, culture and logic,” he said.
US officials say the government will use the International Atomic Energy Agency report as leverage in making its case to other countries that sanctions against Iran should be expanded and tightened and that the enforcement of current sanctions should be toughened.
Israel has also reiterated in the run-up to the report’s release that it may at some point conduct a military strike against Iran’s nuclear programme.
Meanwhile China’s Foreign Ministry said that while Beijing is firmly opposed to any use of force, “the Iranian side should also show flexibility and sincerity.”
China is Iran’s biggest trading partner but has supported previous UN sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear programme.
The report, which is expected to be issued on Wednesday, will suggest that Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and include satellite imagery of what the IAEA believes is a large steel container used for nuclear arms-related high explosives tests.
