Iran calls for peaceful end to nuclear row

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today that his country’s nuclear stand-off with the West can be solved through dialogue, adding that he was ready to talk about “new conditions”.

Mr Ahmedinejad, on an hours-long stopover in Senegal en route to Cuba for a summit, said the debate over Iranian nuclear enrichment could be solved peacefully.

“We’re partisans of dialogue and negotiation. We believe that we can resolve our problems, in a space of dialogue and justice, together,” he told reporters.

“I must announce we’re available. We’re ready for new conditions,” he said without elaborating. Mr Ahmadinejad spoke in Farsi, with his comments interpreted into French.

Oil-rich Iran says it needs uranium enrichment to produce fuel for nuclear reactors that would generate electricity.

Enrichment can also create material for atomic bombs, however, and the US and other nations suspect that is Tehran’s real goal.

Asked if he believed his country would be slapped with UN sanctions, as pressed by the US, Ahmadinejad said there was “no reason” for sanctions and called on the US to moderate its language.

“The American leaders should prefer to not speak in an angry fashion,” he said, before asserting that his country is a natural international leader.

“We believe the on the basis of law and justice we can better lead the world,” he said.