Iran threatens to hide nuclear programme

IRAN threatened yesterday to begin hiding its nuclear programme if the West takes any “harsh measures” against it, Tehran’s sharpest rebuttal yet to a UN Security Council deadline to suspend uranium enrichment or face possible sanctions.

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, meanwhile, said in a meeting with the president of war-torn Sudan that Tehran was ready to transfer its nuclear technology to other countries.

Iran’s warning to the UN watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, came from Tehran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.