Ahmadinejad: Iran to master full N-tech soon

Brushing aside Western threats to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council over its nuclear activities, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed that his country would soon master nuclear technology in the new Iranian year, which starts on Monday AFP reported Sunday. 

 

Speaking during a meeting with Syria’s visiting First Vice President Farouq Al Shara, President Nejad noted that “enemies intend to stop our progress by broad propaganda. But God willing, the Islamic republic will fully gain access to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes in this (Iranian) year,” 

Mr Ahmadinejad, said. 

 

However, the Iranian leader called for a “Middle East without nuclear arms.” 

 

“The Islamic republic is not only seeking a Middle East without nuclear weapons, but also disarmament of all powers in the world that have this weapon,” he stressed. 

 

The Islamic republic is currently facing mounting international pressure, headed by the European Union and Washington which claims that Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a guise for hidden preparations to develop a nuclear weapons program, charges that had been repeatedly rejected by Iran which affirms that its nuclear activities focus mainly in generating power to meet the country’s rising demand for energy. 

 

Members of the UNSC are divided over how to deal with what the U.S. and Israel claim to be the Iranian nuclear threat, with Russia and China, two of the council’s five veto-wielding permanent members, refusing imposing sanctions against their ally and major trading partner Tehran. 

 

Commenting on Iran-U.S. talks regarding the deteriorating situation in Iraq, President Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying that the Islamic Republic sees urge in holding talks with the U.S. about neighboring Iraq “in spite of distrusting Americans.” 

 

“We will … talk with America about Iraq because of requests by the Iraqi people and government, but with consideration of Iraqis and the Islamic world’s interests and in consultation with Islamic countries,” ISNA news agency quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying during his meeting with Al Shara. 

 

“We basically do not trust Americans,” he added. 

 

In an interview with the Washington Post, U.S. envoy to Baghdad Zalmay Khalilzad, expected to lead talks with Iran, accused Iran of aiding rebels and armed groups in Iraq. 

 

In a speech to ethnic Arabs and Dehlavieh in Khuzestan, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused UK of plotting to stop Iran’s progress and that by planning attacks against the country’s southern oil province of Khuzestan, the Tehran-based Arabic satellite news channel Al-Alam reported earlier. 

 

“Enemies of Iran are plotting to stop Iran’s progress. The British forces in southern Iraq are plotting in Khuzestan province,” Khamenei said in a speech in Khuzestan, which houses a large community of ethnic minority Arabs. 

 

“The British occupation force in neighboring Basra and Ammara (Maysan) provinces in Iraq is extending its plots, as (the British) have shown animosity towards Iran over the past two centuries. But the Iranian people and government, especially the brave people of Khuzestan, will vanquish their conspiracy.” 

 

Khuzestan has been plagued by a series of bomb attacks over the past year, including car bombings last June and October, another in January and smaller attacks in February. 

 

Britain rejects as “completely without foundation” Iran’s accusations that British troops based just across the border in southern Iraq are behind those attacks.