Iran says in Nigeria:

Sanctions will not alter nuclear drive

NIGERIA: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that new sanctions slapped on his country will not alter Tehran's nuclear drive, remaining defiant in the face of growing Western pressure.

Speaking Thursday after meeting fellow Muslim leaders at a summit in Nigeria, the Iranian leader said no matter how many sanctions resolutions are approved, "there will be no minor change in our nuclear program."

"Those resolutions are only paper," he said through a translator.

Ahmadinejad has been outspoken in his dismissal of the new sanctions, adopted by the UN Security Council and several Western governments, previously calling them a "used hanky which should be thrown in the dustbin".

But the head of Iran's atomic energy, Ali Akbar Salehi, acknowledged for the first time Wednesday that the measures "may slow down" its nuclear drive.

"One can't say sanctions are ineffective," Iran's ISNA news agency quoted Salehi as saying.

Ahmadinejad said certain conditions must be met before the resumption of stalled nuclear talks with six world powers.

Iran's demands relate to Israel's nuclear capability and the inclusion of yet-to-be-named countries in the talks, he said. Israel is widely believed to have the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal. He accused the so-called 5+1 powers of seeking to "weaken" Iran's position, forcing the country to defer the talks to punish them for their "very ugly and bad behaviour".

Abuja, Friday, AFP