TEHRAN, Sept 18: On the eve of a key meeting of the UN atomic watchdog, Iran has signalled it will never bow to Western demands to dismantle parts of its nuclear programme and is ready to face the consequences. Addressing the UN General Assembly on Saturday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad launched a virulent attack on what he said was “nuclear apartheid” and said it was the United States that was guilty of nuclear proliferation.

“If some try to impose their will on the Iranian people through resort to a language of force and threat with Iran, we will reconsider our entire approach to the nuclear issue,” he warned in a speech loaded with anti-Western rhetoric.

His much-anticipated proposals to solve the crisis merely reaffirmed Iran’s “right” to possess the full nuclear fuel cycle — a technology Iran insists is aimed at producing energy but could be diverted to weapons use.

He outlined four proposals, including an offer to “engage in serious partnership with private and public sectors of other countries in the implementation of the uranium-enrichment programme in Iran.”

Iran insists such work is only for peaceful purposes and a “right” it should enjoy as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“This represents the most far-reaching step, outside all requirements of the NPT, being proposed by Iran as a further confidence-building measure,” said Ahmadinejad, who also proposed that South Africa join the talks to resolve the crisis.

He also said that the UN General Assembly should create an ad hoc committee to study and report on “possible practical measures and strategies for complete disarmament,” and notably raised the question of how “the Zionist regime” Israel came to acquire nuclear arms.

Ahmadinejad’s speech cemented Iran’s position of being totally at odds with Britain, France and Germany, which have been negotiating for the past two years and trying to use economic and security incentives to persuade Tehran to renounce its nuclear fuel cycle work.—AFP