Ahmadinejad hails nuclear progress

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear program is making steady progress despite anti-Tehran resolutions.

“Today, Iran is making progress on its nuclear energy and they are only issuing resolutions,” he said, addressing the chiefs of domestic news agencies on Tuesday, Fars news agency reported.

The Iranian president was referring to US-sponsored resolutions adopted by the United Nations Security Council as well as unilateral measures adopted by the United States and the European Union with the aim of hindering Tehran’s nuclear program.

“But let them issue as many resolutions as they want … it is not important and they claim whatever they want,” said Ahmadinejad.

Western countries accuse Iran of following a military nuclear program. Under Western pressure, the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of sanctions against Iran’s financial and military sectors in June.

Tehran has repeatedly refuted the charges, arguing that as a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency and a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the country has the right to use peaceful nuclear energy.

The Islamic Republic earlier this month invited international diplomats to tour the country’s nuclear sites as a goodwill gesture aimed at highlighting the “transparency” of its nuclear program.

Representatives from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Non-aligned Movement (NAM), Group of 77, the Arab League and the Syrian and Venezuelan ambassadors to the IAEA visited the sites on Saturday and Sunday.

The visitors made a tour of the Arak heavy water reactor and Natanz enrichment facility.

The Vienna-based representatives of the IAEA paid a similar visit to Isfahan’s Uranium Conversion Facility in 2006.