Ahmadinejad: Israel to collapse

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Israel will be collapsed soon, IRNA reported.

Ahmadinejad in an interview with Egyptian Al-Akhbar newspaper warned about serious consequences of attacks on Iran.

Israeli President Shimon Peres said earlier that possibility of an attack on Iran increases.

Israel, Iran's arch-enemy, is "bound to collapse," Ahmadinejad said.

Ahmadinejad emphasized that Iran pursues nuclear technology for peaceful purposes and in line with the regulations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to which is a signatory.

"Iran joins international competition with its increased capabilities, therefore, Israel and the U.S. are concerned about Iran's role and are seeking world support for military operation against Iran," he said.

President Ahmadinejad claimed that this country's disputed nuclear program is peaceful.

The International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Director General Yukiya Amano is going to release his new report about Iran's disputed nuclear this week.

Intelligence provided to U.N. nuclear officials shows that Iran's government has mastered the critical steps needed to build a nuclear weapon, receiving assistance from foreign scientists to overcome key technical hurdles, according to Western diplomats and nuclear experts briefed on the findings, The Washingtonpost reported.

Documents and other records provide new details on the role played by a former Soviet weapons scientist who allegedly tutored Iranians over several years on building high-precision detonators of the kind used to trigger a nuclear chain reaction, the officials and experts said. Crucial technology linked to experts in Pakistan and North Korea also helped propel Iran to the threshold of nuclear capability, they added.

Officials, citing secret intelligence provided over several years to the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the records reinforce concerns that Iran continued to conduct weapons-related research after 2003 when U.S. intelligence agencies believe, Iranian leaders halted such experiments in response to international and domestic pressures.

Iranian foreign minister Ali-Akbar Salehi rejected the accusations, calling them baseless and fake documents.


/Trend/