Ahmadinejad: Iran may end enrichment

Iran would consider ending uranium enrichment, the most crucial part of its controversial nuclear activities, if world powers send Tehran nuclear fuel for a medical research reactor, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said tonight.

Iran was also prepared to set a date for resumption of talks with six world powers to discuss Tehran’s nuclear programme, Ahmadinejad told a news conference in a New York hotel, saying October would be the likely time for the two sides to meet.

Ahmadinejad also defended his remarks at the UN a day earlier in which he claimed most people in the world believe the US was behind the September 11, 2001 terror attacks and again challenged the United Nations to set up a commission to probe the attacks.

“I did not pass judgment, but don’t you feel that the time has come to have a fact finding committee?” he asked.

Ahmadinejad said Iran had no interest in enriching uranium from around 3.5% to 20% purity but was forced to do so after the world powers refused to provide nuclear fuel that is needed for a Tehran reactor that produces medical isotopes for patients.

That level is far below the more than 90% purity needed to build a nuclear weapon, but US officials have expressed concern Iran may be moving closer to an ability to reach weapons-grade level.

Tehran began higher enrichment in February after talks stalled over a UN-brokered proposal that the United States hoped would – at least temporarily - leave Iran unable to produce a warhead. The US and its allies accuse Iran of seeking to build a nuclear weapon, a claim Iran denies.

“We were not interested to carry out 20% enrichment. They (the US and its allies) politicised the issue. We were forced to do it to support the (medical) patients,” Ahmadinejad said.

“We will consider halting uranium enrichment whenever nuclear fuel is provided to us.”

He said pressure was counterproductive, but respectful talks will bear fruit.

“The era of following a policy of carrot and stick is over. Even such words are insulting to nations. It’s only good for cowboys and those of retarded people. Definitely it has no effect,” he said. “They issued resolutions as talks were under way. Still, we are ready for talks.”

The Iranian leader said an Iranian representative will probably meet with members of the five permanent members of the Security Council – the US, Britain, France, Russia and China as well as Germany next month. The grouping is known as the P5+1.

He suggested that a specific date could be set should European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton contact Iran.

“Probably in October; we are ready for talks. The doors are open for talks within the framework of justice and respect,” he said.

However, he warned that Iran won’t give in to pressure. “They are definitely mistaken if they think they can trample the rights of the Iranian nation through coercion in the talks.”

In his one and a half hour session with reporters, Ahmadinejad also lashed out at the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as an overreaction to the September 11 attacks. The Americans should “not occupy the entire Middle East...bomb wedding parties...annihilate an entire village just because one terrorist is hiding there”.

Ahmadinejad’s remarks during a speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday prompted a walkout by the US diplomats. Delegations from all 27 European Union nations followed the Americans out along with representatives from Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Costa Rica, an EU diplomat said.

President Barack Obama responded to Ahmadinejad in a BBC Persian service interview today saying: “Well, it was offensive. It was hateful.”

“And particularly for him to make the statement here in Manhattan, just a little north of Ground Zero, where families lost their loved ones, people of all faiths, all ethnicities who see this as the seminal tragedy of this generation, for him to make a statement like that was inexcusable,” Obama said.

Ahmadinejad routinely makes incendiary remarks, which the West claims are a diversion from heavy international pressure on Tehran to end uranium enrichment and prove that it is not trying to build a nuclear weapon. Iran insists it is enriching uranium only to fuel nuclear reactors to generate electricity.

Iran is under four sets of UN Security Council sanctions as punishment for its failure to make its nuclear ambitions transparent.