Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Iran's nuclear path "untouchable, irrevocable"

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that Iran's "nuclear rights and path are untouchable and irrevocable," regardless of US-led pressure including looming sanctions over Tehran's continued nuclear programme.

"But I believe that the ballyhoo over the nuclear issue is just an excuse by the US to weaken Iran and get domination over the Middle East," Ahmadinejad said in a live interview with state television.

The United States has led a Western effort to get Iran to suspend its nuclear enrichment, alleging that Tehran is pursing nuclear weapons capability. Iran insists that its nuclear research is for peaceful purposes and that the country has a right to develop nuclear energy.

During a world summit on nuclear security, hosted in Washington by US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Tuesday that "consensus is near" with Russia and China to enact a new round of United Nations Security Council sanctions against Iran by next month.

Sarkozy welcomed a final mediating offer by the leaders of Brazil and Turkey but said any talks with Iran would have to bear fruit quickly for Tehran to avoid new sanctions.

"The moment of truth is now," Sarkozy said.

In Tuesday's interview, Ahmadinejad called on Obama to improve ties with Iran.

"Acknowledging Iran would benefit both sides," Ahmadinejad said, "and as far as Iran is concerned, we are not after any confrontation (with the United States)."

Ahmadinejad said that he has prepared a letter for Obama, and the contents would soon be published.

Tehran and Washington have had no diplomatic ties since Iran's Islamic revolution, when Islamist students seized the US embassy in November 1979 in Tehran and held US diplomats as hostages for 444 days.


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