Ahmadinejad Side Steps Questions About Iran’s Nuclear Capability
NEW YORK - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country has complied with rules of the U.N. nuclear agency which require that it is informed of any new enrichment facility six months before it becomes operational.
He told a news conference Friday that the new facility won’t be operational for 18 months so Iran has not violated any requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
The leaders of the United States, Britain and France said Friday the revelation of the previously secret Iranian nuclear facility puts heavy new pressure on Tehran to quickly disclose all its nuclear efforts—including any moves toward weapons development—”or be held accountable.”
With talks on the Iranian nuclear program set for Oct. 1, Ahmadinejad says President Barack Obama will regret his statement.
Speaking at an overflowing news conference, Ahmadinejad dodged a question about whether Iran had sufficient enriched uranium to manufacture a nuclear weapon, but said Tehran rejects such armaments as “inhumane.”
The Iranian leader was peppered with questions about the nuclear program after Obama, French President Nicolas Sarcozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown spoke Friday at the opening of the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, disclosing intelligence that showed Iran was constructing the new enrichment facility near Qom, the Shiite Islam holy city about 100 miles southwest of Tehran.
All three leaders said Iran must open the facility to IAEA inspection at once.
(AP)
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Imagine that!
To the Iranian people.
I am so ashamed of my President and his cadre who continue to help keep you under the boot of this deluded tyrant who rules your beautiful country. I apologize for my ignorant countrymen who voted for this travesty of a “leader”. Historically we have been friends. We will be friends again when this is all over.
I have watched your heroic struggles in the streets of Teheran…I have watched you bleed and die for your freedom. I have watched my President and his Administration remain silent in the face of your bravery and sacrifice. And it has deeply, painfully saddened me and many millions of Americans like me. I don’t know how this situation between our countries will end. I suspect that there will be blood, yours and ours, and great suffering of both of our peoples. This is the way it is when “leaders” are weak, ignorant, or unwilling to stop a tyrant before they consolidate power and become entrenched. Your President has told the world exactly what he intends to do. We have choosen to “sugarcoat” his words, or “call piss…champagne” just to avoid conflict. We have been blind, deaf, and dumb in the face of this. Now there may be no way out for our countries except for mutual suffering. If we were close to ridding our country of its radical sickness I would hold out more hope, but we are over three years away from our “hope and change”. Perhaps God will have mercy on us both and intervene in ways that we cannot yet see. I look forward to visiting together with you when this is over.