By DPA,
Tehran : There will be no more talks over the nuclear dispute despite the latest resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said.
“As far as we are concerned, Iran’s nuclear issue is finished, all technical aspects already settled with the IAEA and we will no longer talk to any country about this,” Ahmadinejad told state television Tuesday.
“We regret the IAEA resolution but we know that the IAEA acted under political pressure. Iran will however limit cooperation with the IAEA to international laws only and not go beyond it anymore,” he said.
The Vienna-based IAEA Friday adopted a resolution censuring Iran for secretly building a new nuclear enrichment plant at Fordu near Tehran.
“Although we did (inform the IAEA about Fordo) … legally we had no obligation to do so because as long as the technology is from inside and not outside, there is no legal obligation to do so,” Ahmadinejad said.
Regarding his order to the Iranian Atomic Organisation to build 10 new uranium enrichment sites, Ahmadinejad rejected Western interpretations that the order was just a political bluff.
“The West also said that we would never be able to make cascades of centrifuges, but we were,” the president said.
Ahmadinejad rejected Monday’s remarks by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner that Iran was playing a “dangerous game” with the order to build the new 10 sites.
“Kouchner? The French foreign minister you mean? We have heard that Kouchner talks much and often does not know what he says … he should rather take care of handling Paris rather than referring to such issues,” the president said.
“We have also heard that Sarkozy has become a slave of this guy,” he added with a sarcastic smile.
The Iranian president doubted there would be either any sanctions or military attacks against the Iranian nuclear sites.
“Sanctions would have no effect and aggressors would regret their action as soon as they put their fingers on the trigger,” he said.
“Iran is the most important country in the Middle East and has an outstanding status in the Middle East … Iran could therefore neither longer be ignored by any world state nor isolated,” Ahmadinejad added.
He said Iran was capable of enriching uranium up to 20 percent and there was technically no need to do the processing abroad.
Ahmadinejad said the uranium exchange deal with Russia and France – exchanging low enriched uranium (LEU) for fuel for use in the Tehran reactor – was just an effort to give the world powers a chance to settle differences.
“This exchange deal was my proposal and Iran is still ready to do the deal but make the swap (LEU for fuel) inside Iranian soil,” the president said.
Ahmadinejad also blamed ally Russia for having approved Friday’s anti-Iran resolution by the IAEA and said that “Russia acted incorrectly and on the basis of a wrong analysis.”