Ahmadinejad defiant in UN address

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told world leaders last night his country will defy any further UN Security Council resolutions imposed by "arrogant powers" seeking to curb its nuclear programme.

He said it is "high time for these powers to return from the path of arrogance and obedience to Satan to the path of faith in God".

Undeterred, France and Germany increased pressure on the Islamic republic at the UN General Assembly's annual ministerial meeting in New York yesterday, saying they would not accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

"Let's not fool ourselves. If Iran were to acquire the nuclear bomb, the consequences would be disastrous," German Chancellor Angela Merkel told the session.

Mr Ahmadinejad told leaders at the meeting yesterday that the world powers on the Security Council had politicised Tehran's nuclear programme, making military threats and imposing sanctions against the country as they demanded it suspend uranium enrichment.

He announced to the assembly that the nuclear issue was now "closed" as a political issue and Iran would pursue the monitoring of its nuclear programme "through its appropriate legal path", the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the UN's nuclear watchdog.

IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei and Iranian officials agreed in July that Tehran would answer questions from agency experts by December on more than two decades of nuclear activity - most of it secret until revealed more than four years ago.

IAEA technical officials returned to Tehran this week to start probing outstanding questions, some with possible weapons applications.

The US delegation walked out of the General Assembly chamber when Mr Ahmadinejad went to the podium, leaving only a low-ranking note-taker to listen to his speech, which also indirectly accused the US and Israel of human rights violations.

Gonzalo Gallegos, a US State Department spokesman, said the Americans wanted "to send him a powerful message".

Iran insists that its nuclear programme is purely peaceful and aimed solely at producing nuclear energy. But the United States and its European allies believe the programme is a cover for Iran's real ambition - producing nuclear weapons.

Iran has defied two Security Council resolutions demanding it suspend uranium enrichment and imposing sanctions against key figures and organisations involved in the nuclear programme.
Mr Ahmadinejad made clear in his speech Iran does not intend to comply with them now. Iran has decided "to pursue the issue through its appropriate legal path ... and to disregard unlawful and political impositions by the arrogant powers," he said. "Some powers sacrifice all human values including honesty, purity and trust for the advancement of their goals," he said.
"They lie openly, level baseless charges against others, act contrary to legal norms and damage the climate of trust and friendship."

At a news conference later, he said Iran's efforts will still be geared towards preventing sanctions, but he maintained that the Security Council sanctions against his country were "completely illegal".

Before Mr Ahmadinejad spoke, French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned the assembly that allowing Iran to arm itself with nuclear weapons would be an "unacceptable risk to stability in the region and in the world".

US President George Bush scarcely mentioned the Iranian nuclear standoff in his speech, instead harshly criticising Burma's military dictatorship, which he accused of imposing "a 19-year reign of fear" that denies basic freedoms of speech, assembly and worship in the country.
Mr Ahmadinejad remained in the General Assembly for Bush's speech, but a UN diplomat in the chamber said he pulled out his translation earpiece before Mr Bush started to talk.

Source: Irish.com