In a rare interview with Western media, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said that Iran has no need for nuclear weapons, but he did
not rule out the possibility that Iran might develop them in the
future. The broadcasting of Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks coincided with a
new report, based on previously undisclosed information, that the
United Nations' nuclear watchdog has withheld evidence about how close
Iran is to making a nuclear bomb.
In excerpts of an interview aired Thursday night on NBC News,
Ahmadinejad said that "the enrichment of uranium for peaceful
purposes... will never be closed down here in Iran." When
interviewer Ann Curry asked whether Iran would ever develop a nuclear
weapon, Ahmadinejad said Iran had no need for such weapons.
"If
nuclear weapons were influential, they would have prevented the
downfall of the Soviet Union — for that matter, the downfall of the
Zionist regime," he said, referring to Israel, long believed to......
