Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stated Tuesday that "the nuclear issue of Iran is now closed," and indicated that Tehran will disregard U.N. Security Council resolutions imposed by "arrogant powers" and demanding suspension of its uranium enrichment.
Instead, he said, according to the AP, Iran has decided to pursue the monitoring of its nuclear program "through its appropriate legal path," the International Atomic Energy Agency. "All our nuclear activities have been completely peaceful and transparent," he said, accusing Western powers of trying to deprive Iran of its right to nuclear energy.
He said that despite military threats and "illegal" sanctions, "Iran has moved forward step by step and now our country is recognized as a one with the capacity for industrial scale fuel cycle production for peaceful purposes."
The Iranian president spoke hours after 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." Earlier, German Chancellor Angela Merkel threatened tougher sanctions against Iran if the country remains intractable on the dispute over its nuclear program.
