WEST HAS LOST NUCLEAR STANDOFF WITH IRAN – AHMADINEJAD

RIA Novosti
15:02 | 11/ 06/ 2008

TEHRAN, June 11 (RIA Novosti) – Iran’s president said on Wednesday
that the West had lost the confrontation with Tehran over the Islamic
Republic’s nuclear program.

The diplomatic standoff between Iran and the West began almost six
years ago over suspicions that Tehran was secretly developing atomic
weapons. Iran is currently under three sets of relatively mild UN
Security Council sanctions after defying international demands to
halt uranium enrichment, which it claims is needed for electricity
generation.

"Our enemies used every opportunity to pressurize us in the political
and nuclear fields, and threatened us with the use of force. However,
they have lost and they have no room for maneuver," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said in a televised statement.

In a message to U.S. President George W. Bush, the Iranian leader
said his time was over. "You cannot damage a single centimeter of
Iran’s territory," he said.

Iran maintains that it has never been involved in research into the
development of nuclear weapons.

A report released by the U.S. intelligence community in late 2007
said that Iran had ceased attempts to create a nuclear bomb in
2003. U.S. President George Bush responded that, "Iran was dangerous,
Iran is dangerous and Iran will be dangerous if they have the know
how to make a nuclear weapon."

When asked if military action remained an option, the president
answered, "The best diplomacy – effective diplomacy – is one in which
all options are on the table."