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Nuke programme 'an inspiration'
21/12/2006 14:45 - (SA)
Tehran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on
Thursday mocked the United States and its allies for trying to
stop Iran's nuclear programme which he said had become a source of inspiration for other nations.
Britain's UN ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said on Wednesday
he expected the UN Security Council to vote this week on a
resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for failing to heed calls
it halt sensitive nuclear fuel production work.
Iran says its nuclear programme will only be used for
peaceful aims, such as electricity generation, and not to make
bombs as United States and its European allies fear.
Ahmadinejad said Western efforts to deflect Iran from its
goal were fruitless.
"America and some European countries know well that they are
incapable of doing anything against the Iranian nation," he told
crowds during a speech in western Iran.
"They think the Iranian nation will wait for their
permission to make progress but they should know that the
Iranian nation has chosen the path of greatness of honour," the
official Irna news agency reported.
The president reiterated a prediction that Iran would
announce it had become a full member of the nuclear energy club
during celebrations to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic
revolution in February.
He said Western efforts to rein in Iran's nuclear plans were
motivated by fear that others would follow Tehran's example.
"Iran's independence, prosperity and progress will soon
become an example for other nations," he said.
"The bullying powers are also afraid that the Iranian
nation's progress will raise the expectations of other nations,
pushing them to stand up to these powers," he added.
Iran's foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki struck a more
conciliatory tone in Tehran, stressing that Iran wanted to
return to negotiations over its nuclear programme.
"We believe it is possible to build a bridge between the two
sides such that Iran can have its rights (to nuclear energy) and
any question or ambiguity (about its programme) can be removed,"
he said.
"We have to repeat that the language of threat has lost its
usefulness and negotiation is the best way to find a possible
solution," he told a joint news conference with visiting
Pakistani foreign minister Kursheed Mehmood Kasuri.
- Reuters
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