Iran leader wants to defend nuke plans before UN Council

IRAN: Iran said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to go before the U.N. Security Council to defend his country's civilian nuclear plans, which the West says are a covert attempt to make atom bombs.

The five permanent members of the Council - the United States, France, Britain, China and Russia - plus Germany are discussing imposing new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists are entirely peaceful.

"The president of Iran plans to speak in a possible meeting of the Security Council on Iran's nuclear programme to defend the right of the Iranian nation to use peaceful nuclear technology," state TV on Sunday quoted government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham as saying, without giving further details.

Iran's IRNA news agency quoted Elham as saying Ahmadinejad planned to attend "if the Security Council has a meeting on Iran's nuclear programme".

Chinese U.N. ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters after a meeting of the six on Sunday in New York: "Any member has the right to come to the council."

"It will be fun if he comes, especially in connection with adoption of this resolution," Wang quipped.

Alejandro Wolff, the U.S. representative, said he had seen the news report but no request for a visa. "I have not seen anything concrete so I don't know what to make of it," he said after the meeting.

Iran has ignored United Nations demands that it halt uranium enrichment, a process Western nations say Tehran is mastering so it can produce atom bombs. Iran, the world's fourth biggest oil exporter, insists its aim is nuclear power generation.

In December the Security Council imposed a package of limited sanctions including a ban on the transfer of sensitive nuclear technology or know-how. It threatened further steps if Iran failed to meet its Feb. 21 deadline to suspend enrichment.

The six world powers are considering new measures but both China and Russia have balked at the idea of some of the financial sanctions, among other provisions.

"As always when you get down to the last bits of agreement the discussions harden a bit," Wolff said of Sunday's talks. "So today's session was a difficult one." Wang agreed, saying: "I think we have gone over again over five key areas. It seems that the basic positions of each among the six are the same."

He said capitals would have to have another round of talks before a draft resolution could be presented to the full council, which the envoys hoped would be this week.

Tehran, Monday, Reuters