Iran 'invincible' in nuclear standoff: Ahmadinejad
TEHRAN : President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Sunday vowed Iran would not back down in the standoff over its nuclear programme, saying the Islamic republic was "invincible" in the face of Western threats.
His defiant speech marking the 18th anniversary of the death of Iran's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini came amid renewed warnings by Western powers that Iran faces more UN sanctions over its nuclear defiance.
"Even if all the world powers are slitting their own throats, the Iranian people are invincible and will remain invincible," Ahmadinejad told the faithful in an address at Khomeini's shrine on the outskirts of Tehran.
"The Iranian people are united behind the supreme leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and will not step back one inch in their nuclear programme. Iran has become a nuclear country.
"The great powers can gather together their forces and frown. But they must know that threats will not make Iran yield," he added.
The crux of the nuclear crisis is Iran's right to enrich uranium, a process that can be used both to make nuclear fuel and, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atomic weapon.
Iran insists it has every right to enrich uranium but the European Union and United States want Tehran to suspend the process immediately, something it has steadfastly refused to do.
Talks seeking to break the deadlock between Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Thursday ended with positive words from both sides but no sign of any breakthrough.
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1) Iran 'invincible' in nuclear standoff: Ahmadinejad
Sunday, June 03, 2007
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