Iran nuclear issue closed, says Ahmadinejad

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UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26 (AP): Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Tuesday that Iran's disputed nuclear programme is "closed" as a political issue and said Tehran will ignore UN Security Council demands and sanctions imposed by "arrogant powers" to curb its nuclear programme.
Instead, he told world leaders at the UN General Assembly that Iran has decided to pursue the monitoring of its nuclear programme "through its appropriate legal path," the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is the UN nuclear watchdog agency.
The Iranian president spoke shortly before German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned the diplomats of "disastrous consequences" for Israel and the world if Iran acquires a nuclear bomb. "The world does not have to prove to Iran that Iran is building a nuclear bomb. Iran has to convince the world that it is not striving towards such a bomb."
Ahmadinejad has defied two Security Council resolutions demanding Iran suspend enrichment and imposing escalating sanctions on key figures and organisations involved in the nuclear programme. He made clear in his speech that Iran did not intend to comply with them now.
"In the last two years, abusing the Security Council, the arrogant powers have repeatedly accused Iran and even made military threats and imposed illegal sanctions against it," he said.
"Previously, they illegally insisted on politicising the Iranian nation's nuclear case, but today, because of the resistance of the Iranian nation, the issue is back to the agency, and I officially announce that in our opinion the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed and has turned into an ordinary agency matter," Ahmadinejad said.
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.
Speaking to reporters later, Ahmadinejad attempted to clarify Tehran's stance.
"It's closed as a political issue," he said, stressing that it is a legal issue "and therefore should have been examined solely within the framework of the IAEA."
"However, certain big powers ... have made every effort to turn a simple legal issue into a very loud, controversial, political issue," he said.
"All our efforts, most certainly, will be geared towards preventing sanctions, but you must know that the activities of the Security Council regarding Iran's nuclear issue are completely illegal," Ahmadinejad said.
A UN diplomat in the chamber said the Iranian president listened to the secretary-general but pulled out his earpiece before Bush started to speak.