Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who faces re-election next month, said he considers the dispute over his country’s nuclear program “over.”
The Iranian people “won’t allow negotiations to take place outside the framework of the IAEA” the United Nations atomic energy watchdog, Ahmadinejad said today at a Tehran press conference when asked about talks with world powers seeking a suspension of Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
The five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany indicated last month that they would not impose new sanctions against Iran if the country refrained from expanding its nuclear enrichment capabilities. Iran says its activities are peaceful and conform with the IAEA-monitored nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which it has signed.
Ahmadinejad has stoked tensions with the West by pressing on with Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. and several allies have said may be a cover for weapons development. Iran insists that the program is peaceful and intended to generate electricity.
The main challengers to Ahmadinejad, who is seeking a second four-year term in the June 12 election, have said that they would prefer a dialogue with Western powers rather than a continuation of what they have called Ahmadinejad’s confrontational rhetoric on issues such as the nuclear program.
Since Ahmadinejad was elected in 2005, the UN Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran for its refusal to halt uranium enrichment. Ahmadinejad has called the nuclear program a “train” in which Iran has “thrown away the reverse gear and brakes.”
Enriched uranium can be used to fuel a reactor and, at higher concentrations, can form the core of a bomb.
Ahmadinejad, at the press conference, also offered to debate U.S. President Barack Obama at the UN on “world problems and collective cooperation.”
Obama has said he is willing to engage in dialogue with Iran to reach a solution over the country’s nuclear activities.
