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Iran: No retreat on nuclear issue
(AP)
Updated: 2006-03-14 21:34
Iran's supreme leader ordered the country's diplomats on Tuesday to defend
the country's nuclear program, saying any retreat would undermine the country's
independence and Tehran's other foreign policy goals.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
right, sits as Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, left, speaks
during a meeting of Iranian ambassadors based abroad, in Tehran, Iran,
Tuesday, March, 14, 2006. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said
Tuesday that 'no power' can take nuclear fuel technology from Iran and
vowed that Tehran will resist pressure from U.N. security Council on its
nuclear program. [AP] |
"The Islamic Republic of Iran considers retreat over the nuclear issue ... as
breaking the country's independence which will impose huge costs on the Iranian
nation," state television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as telling diplomats
brought home from Iran's embassies across the world for consultations with
Iranian leaders.
His comments echoed those of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vowed to
resist pressure from the U.N. Security Council to back down.
The five veto-wielding members of the council 锟斤拷 the United States, Russia,
China, Britain and France 锟斤拷 have been weighing proposals to persuade Iran to
respond to concerns about its nuclear program. They were to resume their talks
later Tuesday at the U.N. headquarters in New York.
The United States and its European allies want Iran to permanently abandon
uranium enrichment and all related activities, a technology that can be used to
produce nuclear fuel for reactors or materials for a nuclear bomb. Iran denies
any intention to build weapons, saying it only wants to produce energy.
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