Iran will not back down in nuclear dispute – Ahmadinejad

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, Jul. 11 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Tehran would not back down an “iota” over its nuclear activities one day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza demanded an “authoritative” response from the Islamic Republic to a UN Security Council package of incentives in return for it to suspend uranium enrichment. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, Jul. 11 – Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Tehran would not back down an “iota” over its nuclear activities one day after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza demanded an “authoritative” response from the Islamic Republic to a UN Security Council package of incentives in return for it to suspend uranium enrichment.

“The Iranian nation is determined to obtain all of its rights, including complete nuclear rights and being able to produce nuclear fuel”, Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the north-western town of Malakan. His remarks were carried by the state-run news agency ISNA.

Tehran will not retreat an “iota” in its nuclear pursuit despite the West’s negative “propaganda”, he said.

“We hope that the Iranians choose the path before them for cooperation, but, of course, we can always return to the other path should we need to”, Rice said at a joint news conference with British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett on Monday. The other path, she added, was one which led to Security Council action.