Learn Chinese - Iran takes tough stand over nuclear row

WORLD / Middle East

Iran takes tough stand over nuclear row

(AP)
Updated: 2007-01-19 08:29

TEHRAN, Iran - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed back over the US
military buildup in the Gulf, saying Thursday that Iran is ready for any
possibility in the standoff over its nuclear program.

Nicolas Burns, the US Undersecretary of State listens to a question
during a news conference after his meeting with Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, not seen, at the parliament in Ankara, Thursday,
Jan. 18, 2007. [AP]

The president made clear he was not backing down in his tough rhetoric
toward the United States, despite criticism at home. Conservatives and
reformists alike have openly challenged Ahmadinejad's nuclear diplomacy
tactics, many saying his fiery anti-Western remarks are doing more harm
than good.

Ahmadinejad said their calls for compromise echo "the words of the enemy."

At the same time, Ahmadinejad's top national security official, Ali
Larijani, sharply denounced US policy in Iraq, saying Washington is
fueling Shiite-Sunni hatred.

Washington has accused Iran of backing militants fueling Iraq's violence,
increasing tensions amid the dispute over Iran's nuclear program, which
the US says aims to produce nuclear weapons.

The United States sent an aircraft carrier to the Gulf this week - the
second to deploy in the region - a buildup that Defense Secretary Robert
Gates said was intended to impress on Iran that the four-year war in Iraq
has not made America vulnerable.

In an apparent reaction to the deployment, Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday
that Iran would not back down over its nuclear program, which Tehran says
is being developed only to produce energy.

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"Today, with the grace of God, we have gone through the arduous passes
and we are ready for anything in this path," state-run television quoted
the Iranian leader as saying.

The UN Security Council recently imposed limited sanctions to punish Iran
for defying a resolution demanding that it suspend uranium enrichment, a
process that can produce material to fuel nuclear reactors or, at purer
concentrations, the core of nuclear weapons.

In Paris, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei,
said he was concerned the sanctions could escalate Iran's standoff with
Western powers.

"I don't think sanctions will resolve the issue ... Sanctions in my view
could lead to escalation on both sides," he warned.

ElBaradei said the pressure has failed to break a consensus in Iran that
the oil-rich nation needs to master the complex process of uranium
enrichment. Iran this week said it is moving toward large-scale
enrichment involving 3,000 centrifuges, which spin uranium gas into
enriched material.

A diplomat and a UN official in Vienna said Thursday that much, but not
all, of the hardware needed for the installation of the centrifuges was
now in place at the Natanz facility designated to house Tehran's
industrial-scale enrichment program.

The two - who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to
discuss confidential information - emphasized that the facility had been
ready for some time, and there was no sign that actual work on putting in
the centrifuges would begin at any particular date.

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