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Iran 'invincible' in nuclear standoff: Ahmadinejad

June 05, 2007 00:00:00


TEHRAN, June 4 (AFP): President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Sunday insisted Iran would not back down in the standoff over its nuclear programme, saying that the Islamic republic was "invincible" against Western powers.

His defiant speech marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came amid warnings by Western powers that Iran faces more UN sanctions over its nuclear defiance.

"Even if all the world powers are slitting their own throats, the Iranian people are invincible and will remain invincible," Ahmadinejad said in an address at Khomeini's shrine on the outskirts of Tehran.

"Iran is not trying to make aggression against other countries. It only wants that its right be accepted and will not accept the injustice of the great powers."

The crux of the nuclear crisis is Iran's right to enrich uranium, a process that can be used both to make nuclear fuel and, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic weapon.

Iran insists it has every right to enrich uranium but the European Union and United States want Tehran to suspend the process immmediately, something it has steadfastly refused to do.

Talks seeking to break the deadlock between Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana Thursday ended with positive words from both sides but no sign of any breakthrough.

US officials expressed frustration after the talks, saying there was no sign of Iran offering any suspension and the only option was for the UN Security Council to discuss a third set of sanctions against Tehran.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons, a charge vehemently denied by Tehran which says it wants only to generate energy for a growing population when fossil fuels eventually run out.


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