By Xinhua
Tehran : Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday that the recently-released U.S. intelligence report was a “great victory” for Tehran’s nuclear program, the state television reported.
“Over our nuclear program, this is a great victory for the Iranian people against the great powers,” Ahmadinejad was quoted as telling thousands of people in the Western Ilam province.
“You can see the report which said Iran was on the just way, this is a final blow for the enemy,” he added.
The president stressed Iran was ready to talk with the West over the nuclear issue only when the other side also wanted to do so on the basis of “friendship.”
“If you want to talk to Iranian people as an enemy, the Iranians will not back up and will conquer you, however, if you talk on the basis of friendship and cooperation, the Iranian people will be your great friend,” he said.
Iranian officials on Tuesday welcomed an U.S. intelligence report which said Iran was not actively developing nuclear weapons.
“We naturally welcome those countries that had questions about Iran’s nuclear case in the past and now correct their views realistically,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted as saying by the state radio.
“The whole world is becoming to know that Iran’s nuclear activities are peaceful,” he added.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, in a statement faxed to the media on Tuesday, also welcomed the U.S. intelligence report as “positive and factual.”
The report reflected the elaboration of 16 U.S. intelligent services and confirmed that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful andno violation is detected, Hosseini said.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also said Tuesday that the latest U.S. intelligence report on Iran’s nuclear activities was “consistent” with the organization’s findings in recent years.
This new assessment by the United States should help to defuse the current crisis, and encourage Iran to more actively cooperate with the IAEA on its current nuclear activities, he said.
The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), which came out on Monday, found out that Iran stopped an effort to develop nuclear weapons in the fall of 2003 but it continues to enrich uranium.
The estimate is less severe than a 2005 report that judged the Iranian leadership was “determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure.”
But the latest report also said Iran could reverse that decision and eventually produce a nuclear weapon if it wants to do so.
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Tuesday that Iran was still a danger and urged the international community to impose diplomatic pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program.
“To me, the NIE provides an opportunity for us to rally the international community, to continue to rally the community, to pressure the Iranian regime to suspend its program,” he said.
“I still feel strongly that Iran is a danger,” Bush said. “I think the NIE makes it clear that Iran needs to be taken seriously as a threat to peace.”
He again refused to rule out military options against Iran, saying “the best diplomacy, effective diplomacy, is one in which all options are on the table.”