Ahmadinejad stands firm on nuke programme

TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday said Iran will not back down "an inch" from its nuclear programme, and launched another attack on Israel, calling it a fraudulent regime that cannot survive.

"The world must know that the Iranian people will not back down even an inch on its rights to peaceful nuclear energy," Ahmadinejad said in a speech in Islamshahr, southwest of the capital.

"The enrichment of uranium and having nuclear fuel are among the main demands of Iranian nation," he added in a speech broadcast live on state television.

Iran has firmly rejected warnings by the West to Iran to halt its sensitive nuclear activities, the enrichment of uranium in particular.

After several rounds of fruitless talks with Iran, the European Union has declared the issue must now go before the United Nations, where the Security Council is working on a US-led resolution that would allow for economic sanctions.

The West sees Iran's nuclear programme as a cover for weapons development, but Tehran insists it is for peaceful energy purposes only, and says it has every right to enrich uranium under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Ahmadinejad also took another verbal swipe at Israel Thursday, saying "the Zionist regime is fraudulent and illegitimate and cannot survive".

"The big powers have created this fraud regime and allowed it to commit all kind of crimes to guarantee their interests," he said.