Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his country “does not need atomic bombs”, amid continuing controversy over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
Mr Ahmadinejad, quoted by state broadcaster IRIB, warned the US would “regret” any confrontation with Iran.
The UN’s atomic watchdog is expected to say this week that Iran is secretly developing a nuclear arms capability.
Israeli President Shimon Peres said on Sunday that an attack on Iran was becoming more likely.
Iran has always insisted that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.
Mr Ahmadinejad accused the head of the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Yukiya Amano, of being a puppet of the US.
“This person does not publish a report about America and its allies’ nuclear arsenals,” he said.
“If America wants to confront the Iranian nation, it will certainly regret the Iranian nation’s response,” IRIB reported.
“If you think by pressuring the Iranian nation, you can change the situation in the world, you are very much mistaken.
“They are saying that Iran is seeking the atomic bomb. But they should know… we do not need a bomb. Rather, we will act thoughtfully and with logic.”
Diplomats say the IAEA report, due for release on Tuesday or Wednesday, will produce compelling evidence that Iran will find hard to dispute.
Fears calmed
On Tuesday, Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak played down speculation that Israel intended to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
“War is not a picnic. We want a picnic. We don’t want a war,” Mr Barak told Israel Radio.
On Sunday, President Peres told the Israel daily newspaper Hayom that “there is an impression that Iran is getting closer to nuclear weapons”.
On Monday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned that military action against Iran would be a “very serious mistake fraught with unpredictable consequences”.
He said diplomacy, not missile strikes, was the only way to solve the Iranian nuclear problem.
Iran rejects IAEA report as ‘politically motivated’
Haaretz
Iran rejected as “politically motivated” a report by the UN nuclear watchdog on Tuesday in which the Islamic Republic was accused of working on developing an atomic bomb design, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
“The report of the International Atomic Energy Agency is unbalanced, unprofessional and politically motivated,” Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran’s envoy to the IAEA, was quoted as saying.
The Vienna-based IAEA said the data “indicates that Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device”.
Major powers accuse Iran of trying to build bombs under cover of a civilian nuclear program. Tehran denies this, saying it needs nuclear technology to generate electricity.
“The IAEA is one of the most credible, thorough, important UN organizations out there,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in response to Iranian assertions that the IAEA report is not credible.
“This is the director general of the IAEA’s report. It is based on inputs from the IAEA’s own cadre of inspectors and analysts, as well as inputs from some 10, 15 member states. So we would obviously reject that assertion. Iran should give the IAEA full access, full cooperation, full transparency that it has been asking for and that it has not received.”
The United States and its allies are expected to seize on the report to press for more punitive sanctions on the major oil producer over its record of hiding sensitive nuclear activity and lack of full cooperation with UN inspectors.
Soltanieh said the IAEA report did not contain any new issues.
“Despite Iran’s readiness for negotiations, the IAEA published the report … which will harm its reputation,” Soltanieh said.
