Iranian president wants televised debate with Bush

The Associated Press

TEHRAN, Iran Iran’s hardline president challenged the U.N. on Tuesday two days before a Security Council ultimatum demanding Tehran roll back its nuclear program and instead proposed a televised debate with U.S. President George W. Bush.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said no one can prevent Iran from pursuing what he called a peaceful nuclear program — not even U.N. chief Kofi Annan.

“Mr. Annan, too, has to move within the framework of international regulations. No one has a special right or advantage,” the Iranian president said during a wide-ranging news conference, televised worldwide, that lasted two hours.

Annan is expected in Iran on Saturday, two days after Thursday’s U.N. Security Council deadline for Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment — a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for weapons. Iran has refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline illegal, and instead earlier this week offered a counterproposal that the United States and some European nations said fell short.

Ahmadinejad’s latest show of defiance seemed to solidify the country’s determination to snub the Security Council, coming after a string of public displays of military and political determination in recent days.

The White House immediately rejected his proposal of a TV debate with Bush as a “diversion” from serious concerns over the country’s nuclear program.

In his criticism of the Security Council, Ahmadinejad singled out two of its permanent members — the United States and Britain — for what he called their failure to listen to the needs of other countries.

“The U.S. and Britain are the source of many tensions,” the president said. “At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to.

“This (veto right) is the source of problems of the world. … It is an insult to the dignity, independence, freedom and sovereignty of nations,” he said.

The United States’ ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, dismissed Ahmadinejad’s remarks, and Britain’s ambassador to the world body suggested, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that the comments were mild compared to Ahmadinejad’s past sharp rhetoric against Israel and others.

“Given some of the comments he makes, we should probably take that as a compliment,” said Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

In his challenge to Bush for a debate, Ahmadinejad said it should focus on “world issues and the ways of solving the problems of the international community.”

He did not rule out the possibility of direct diplomatic talks with the United States, saying it could happen if unspecified conditions were met. But he criticized the United States for “living in the dream of getting the Iranian nation back to 30 years ago.”

At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino called the debate idea “just a diversion from the legitimate concerns that the international community, not just the U.S., has about Iran’s behavior, from support for terrorism to pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.”

The Bush administration earlier this week reaffirmed its intent to pursue U.N. sanctions against Iran if it defies the approaching deadline. But whether the U.S. can muster enough support on the Security Council to actually impose either economic or political sanctions remains in question.

Iran offered last week to pursue negotiations but declined to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition to talks. The U.S. State Department described the Iranian proposal as serious but said it fell short of what Iran must do.

But Russia, whose support for sanctions is essential, has publicly counseled patience with Iran — a possible signal of reluctance to go along with the U.S.

Tehran has pursued a confrontational stance on the nuclear issue since Ahmadinejad’s election last year. He has often used the issue to encourage a sense of national pride among Iranians by standing up to the United States and other Western countries.

He and other Iranian officials have repeatedly said the country’s nuclear program is intended solely to generate electricity, while the United States and Europe contend Iran secretly aims to develop weapons.

Washington recently warned against a heavy-water plant that Iran opened over the weekend, fearing it could be used as a second track toward building a warhead.

Heavy water contains a heavier hydrogen particle that allows a nuclear reactor to run on the natural uranium mined by Iran, without undergoing the enrichment process. But the spent fuel from a heavy-water reactor can be reprocessed to extract plutonium for use in a bomb.

Large-scale military exercises also have been under way in Iran over the past month. Iran says the weaponry is intended to defend itself against the possibility of a U.S. attack and has expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its nuclear facilities.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, said Tuesday that Israel was a threat to the Middle East and called the Jewish state’s creation a “tale.” Although he recently said Iran was not a danger to Israel, he previously has said Israel should be “wiped off the map.”

“The Zionist regime has deprived the Palestinian nation and other nations of the region of a single day of peace. In the past 60 years, it has imposed tens of wars on the Palestinian nation and others,” he said.

TEHRAN, Iran Iran’s hardline president challenged the U.N. on Tuesday two days before a Security Council ultimatum demanding Tehran roll back its nuclear program and instead proposed a televised debate with U.S. President George W. Bush.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also said no one can prevent Iran from pursuing what he called a peaceful nuclear program — not even U.N. chief Kofi Annan.

“Mr. Annan, too, has to move within the framework of international regulations. No one has a special right or advantage,” the Iranian president said during a wide-ranging news conference, televised worldwide, that lasted two hours.

Annan is expected in Iran on Saturday, two days after Thursday’s U.N. Security Council deadline for Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment — a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for weapons. Iran has refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline illegal, and instead earlier this week offered a counterproposal that the United States and some European nations said fell short.

Ahmadinejad’s latest show of defiance seemed to solidify the country’s determination to snub the Security Council, coming after a string of public displays of military and political determination in recent days.

The White House immediately rejected his proposal of a TV debate with Bush as a “diversion” from serious concerns over the country’s nuclear program.

In his criticism of the Security Council, Ahmadinejad singled out two of its permanent members — the United States and Britain — for what he called their failure to listen to the needs of other countries.

“The U.S. and Britain are the source of many tensions,” the president said. “At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to.

“This (veto right) is the source of problems of the world. … It is an insult to the dignity, independence, freedom and sovereignty of nations,” he said.

The United States’ ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, dismissed Ahmadinejad’s remarks, and Britain’s ambassador to the world body suggested, somewhat tongue-in-cheek, that the comments were mild compared to Ahmadinejad’s past sharp rhetoric against Israel and others.

“Given some of the comments he makes, we should probably take that as a compliment,” said Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry.

In his challenge to Bush for a debate, Ahmadinejad said it should focus on “world issues and the ways of solving the problems of the international community.”

He did not rule out the possibility of direct diplomatic talks with the United States, saying it could happen if unspecified conditions were met. But he criticized the United States for “living in the dream of getting the Iranian nation back to 30 years ago.”

At the White House, spokeswoman Dana Perino called the debate idea “just a diversion from the legitimate concerns that the international community, not just the U.S., has about Iran’s behavior, from support for terrorism to pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability.”

The Bush administration earlier this week reaffirmed its intent to pursue U.N. sanctions against Iran if it defies the approaching deadline. But whether the U.S. can muster enough support on the Security Council to actually impose either economic or political sanctions remains in question.

Iran offered last week to pursue negotiations but declined to suspend uranium enrichment as a precondition to talks. The U.S. State Department described the Iranian proposal as serious but said it fell short of what Iran must do.

But Russia, whose support for sanctions is essential, has publicly counseled patience with Iran — a possible signal of reluctance to go along with the U.S.

Tehran has pursued a confrontational stance on the nuclear issue since Ahmadinejad’s election last year. He has often used the issue to encourage a sense of national pride among Iranians by standing up to the United States and other Western countries.

He and other Iranian officials have repeatedly said the country’s nuclear program is intended solely to generate electricity, while the United States and Europe contend Iran secretly aims to develop weapons.

Washington recently warned against a heavy-water plant that Iran opened over the weekend, fearing it could be used as a second track toward building a warhead.

Heavy water contains a heavier hydrogen particle that allows a nuclear reactor to run on the natural uranium mined by Iran, without undergoing the enrichment process. But the spent fuel from a heavy-water reactor can be reprocessed to extract plutonium for use in a bomb.

Large-scale military exercises also have been under way in Iran over the past month. Iran says the weaponry is intended to defend itself against the possibility of a U.S. attack and has expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its nuclear facilities.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, said Tuesday that Israel was a threat to the Middle East and called the Jewish state’s creation a “tale.” Although he recently said Iran was not a danger to Israel, he previously has said Israel should be “wiped off the map.”

“The Zionist regime has deprived the Palestinian nation and other nations of the region of a single day of peace. In the past 60 years, it has imposed tens of wars on the Palestinian nation and others,” he said.