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09/18/2005:

"Iran Proclaims Right to Nuclear Energy"

UNITED NATIONS - Iran's president proclaimed his country's "inalienable right" to produce nuclear fuel Saturday, defiantly rejecting a European offer of economic incentives if the Mideast nation would halt its uranium enrichment program.

In a fiery speech to the U.N. General Assembly, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad denied his nation had any intention of producing nuclear weapons. To prove that, he offered foreign countries and companies a role in Iran's nuclear energy production.

The Iranian leader lashed out at the United States for its insistence on keeping its nuclear weapons even as it rejected Iran's efforts to build a peaceful energy program.

He said Iran has a right to produce nuclear fuel under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and implicitly accused the Europeans and Americans of "misrepresenting" Iran's desire for civilian nuclear energy "as the pursuit of nuclear weapons."

"This is nothing more than a pure propaganda ploy," he said.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran reiterates its previously and repeatedly declared position that in accordance with our religious principles, pursuit of nuclear weapons is prohibited," Ahmadinejad said.

The Europeans and Americans have argued that Iran doesn't need to enrich uranium because it can obtain it from other countries, but Ahmadinejad said "the peaceful use of nuclear energy without a fuel cycle is an empty proposition."

To reassure the international community of Iran's peaceful intentions, Ahmadinejad said his government is prepared to take "the most far reaching step outside the requirements of the NPT... in keeping with Iran's inalienable right to have access to a nuclear fuel cycle."

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has already installed cameras to monitor Iran's nuclear activities, he said.

As a further "confidence building measure and in order to provide the greatest degree of transparency the Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to engage in serious partnership with private and public sectors of other countries in the implementation of uranium enrichment programs in Iran," he said.
news.yahoo.com