STOP!
I think he set a record on this one.
Ahmadinejad won't budge on Iran's nuclear program
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/02/us.iran/index.html
Will the U.S eventually attack Iran? Poll
- Thread starter Doberman
- Start date
STOP!
I think he set a record on this one.
Ahmadinejad won't budge on Iran's nuclear program
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/06/02/us.iran/index.html
Ahmadinejad won't budge on Iran's nuclear program
Friday, June 2, 2006; Posted: 1:55 p.m. EDT (17:55 GMT)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Tehran will not give up its nuclear ambitions.
Image:
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- Iran will not give up its nuclear ambitions under Western pressure, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday.
"Certain parties that have stockpiles full of nuclear arms want to deprive us of our absolute rights," Ahmadinejad said at the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Tehran, according to a report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
"Pressures to make us give up our rights will be (in) vain," he said.
"If acquiring nuclear energy is not good, no country should benefit from it," he said.
Ahmadinejad's comments came less than 24 hours after six world powers meeting in Vienna agreed to "substantive" incentives in an attempt to coax Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment. He did not specifically mention the meeting in his comments Friday.
The six powers, the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Germany, agreed on a "set of far-reaching proposals" on Thursday.
While details will be kept secret until Iran has seen them, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the suggestions will form the foundation for resuming talks with Iran.
The package still hinges on Iran halting its nuclear enrichment program. (Watch what will happen next if Iran does not agree -- 2:08)
"We believe that (the proposals) offer Iran the chance to reach a negotiated agreement based on cooperation," Beckett said.
In an interview with CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran needs "to make a choice and the international community needs to know whether negotiation is a real option or not."
'Big insult'
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's nuclear program, was quoted in an Associated Press report Friday as ruling out the U.S. conditions.
"Tehran is determined to conclude its peaceful nuclear program," he said, according to a report by Iran's ISNA news agency referenced by AP. "The Iranian people will not allow us to suspend enrichment.
"The conditions set by the U.S. for joining talks with Iran were a big insult to the Iranian nation," he said. "Accepting the U.S. conditions is almost impossible."
The ISNA report did not say if he spoke before or after the agreement on the package in Vienna was announced, AP reported.
The incentive proposal follows Rice's meeting with foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia in Vienna, Austria, the headquarters of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency.(Watch the U.S. strategy on Iran -- 2:23)
A senior U.S. State Department official said European diplomats will present the proposal to Iran, probably within the next few days.
Rice said Iran must respond in "a matter of weeks."
If Iran agrees to suspend its nuclear reprocessing and enrichment activities, potential Security Council actions against Tehran will be suspended, Beckett said. If Iran refuses, "further steps would have to be taken in the Security Council," she said without elaborating.
The announcement appears to mark the first time China and Russia have been on the same page as Washington regarding the issue.
Though the consequences of Iran refusing to halt enrichment weren't laid out, China and Russia's agreement to the deal is key.
The two countries have hesitated to call for sanctions on Iran in the past, and both could veto any Security Council resolution punishing Iran for refusing to stop its enrichment and reprocessing activities.
Blix report
Beckett's announcement came as former weapons inspector Hans Blix submitted a 225-page report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan stating that Iran should stop its uranium enrichment program, but it probably won't.
"(Iranians) see 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq, and they see American bases in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, and more American military activities to the north of them," he said, adding that Iran remembers well the foreign-born coup of 1953 that ousted Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq.
The Blix Commission's work was paid for largely by the Swedish government and the private Canadian-based Simons Foundation, a self-described advocate for peace and disarmament.
Blix oversaw the pre-war U.N. investigation into whether Iraq had biological and chemical weapons.
Despite Iran's insistence that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, the United States and its European allies fear the nation is attempting to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran ended its voluntary cooperation with the IAEA in February, which included ending surprise inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Iran said in April that it used 164 centrifuges to produce energy-grade uranium. Experts say thousands of centrifuges are needed to produce the necessary concentrations for a nuclear bomb.
Friday, June 2, 2006; Posted: 1:55 p.m. EDT (17:55 GMT)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Tehran will not give up its nuclear ambitions.
Image:
VIENNA, Austria (CNN) -- Iran will not give up its nuclear ambitions under Western pressure, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Friday.
"Certain parties that have stockpiles full of nuclear arms want to deprive us of our absolute rights," Ahmadinejad said at the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Tehran, according to a report by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.
"Pressures to make us give up our rights will be (in) vain," he said.
"If acquiring nuclear energy is not good, no country should benefit from it," he said.
Ahmadinejad's comments came less than 24 hours after six world powers meeting in Vienna agreed to "substantive" incentives in an attempt to coax Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment. He did not specifically mention the meeting in his comments Friday.
The six powers, the five veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Germany, agreed on a "set of far-reaching proposals" on Thursday.
While details will be kept secret until Iran has seen them, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said the suggestions will form the foundation for resuming talks with Iran.
The package still hinges on Iran halting its nuclear enrichment program. (Watch what will happen next if Iran does not agree -- 2:08)
"We believe that (the proposals) offer Iran the chance to reach a negotiated agreement based on cooperation," Beckett said.
In an interview with CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran needs "to make a choice and the international community needs to know whether negotiation is a real option or not."
'Big insult'
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's nuclear program, was quoted in an Associated Press report Friday as ruling out the U.S. conditions.
"Tehran is determined to conclude its peaceful nuclear program," he said, according to a report by Iran's ISNA news agency referenced by AP. "The Iranian people will not allow us to suspend enrichment.
"The conditions set by the U.S. for joining talks with Iran were a big insult to the Iranian nation," he said. "Accepting the U.S. conditions is almost impossible."
The ISNA report did not say if he spoke before or after the agreement on the package in Vienna was announced, AP reported.
The incentive proposal follows Rice's meeting with foreign ministers from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia in Vienna, Austria, the headquarters of the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency.(Watch the U.S. strategy on Iran -- 2:23)
A senior U.S. State Department official said European diplomats will present the proposal to Iran, probably within the next few days.
Rice said Iran must respond in "a matter of weeks."
If Iran agrees to suspend its nuclear reprocessing and enrichment activities, potential Security Council actions against Tehran will be suspended, Beckett said. If Iran refuses, "further steps would have to be taken in the Security Council," she said without elaborating.
The announcement appears to mark the first time China and Russia have been on the same page as Washington regarding the issue.
Though the consequences of Iran refusing to halt enrichment weren't laid out, China and Russia's agreement to the deal is key.
The two countries have hesitated to call for sanctions on Iran in the past, and both could veto any Security Council resolution punishing Iran for refusing to stop its enrichment and reprocessing activities.
Blix report
Beckett's announcement came as former weapons inspector Hans Blix submitted a 225-page report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan stating that Iran should stop its uranium enrichment program, but it probably won't.
"(Iranians) see 130,000 American soldiers in Iraq, and they see American bases in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, and more American military activities to the north of them," he said, adding that Iran remembers well the foreign-born coup of 1953 that ousted Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq.
The Blix Commission's work was paid for largely by the Swedish government and the private Canadian-based Simons Foundation, a self-described advocate for peace and disarmament.
Blix oversaw the pre-war U.N. investigation into whether Iraq had biological and chemical weapons.
Despite Iran's insistence that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, the United States and its European allies fear the nation is attempting to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran ended its voluntary cooperation with the IAEA in February, which included ending surprise inspections of its nuclear facilities.
Iran said in April that it used 164 centrifuges to produce energy-grade uranium. Experts say thousands of centrifuges are needed to produce the necessary concentrations for a nuclear bomb.
