Iran: We Won't Retreat 'One Iota' on Nuclear Push

Meanwhile Russia rules out sanctions
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 9, 2011 12:11 PM CST
Iran: We Won't Retreat 'One Iota' on Nuclear Push
In this Tuesday, April 8, 2008 photo released by the Iranian President's Office, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, visits the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility.   (AP Photo/Iranian President's Office, File)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad issued a defiant statement today denying a UN report that Iran was on the brink of acquiring nuclear weapons, and insisting that it would not change its behavior. “This nation won't retreat one iota from the path it is going,” he told a crowd in central Iran, in comments broadcast on state-run TV. “Why are you ruining the prestige of the (UN nuclear) agency for absurd US claims?" He said nuclear weapons made no sense for Iran. "The Iranian nation is wise. It won't build two bombs against 20,000 bombs you have."

The UN report sent a wave of unease around the world, the AP reports. France called for sanctions on an "unprecedented scale," but Russia today said it would block any such attempts. "Any additional sanctions against Iran would be perceived by the international community as an instrument for regime change in Tehran." Israel and some other nations have indicated that military options are still on the table, though Israel is keeping quiet at the moment to avoid an explicit Israel/Iran showdown. (More Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stories.)

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