http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=297848&version=1&template_id=37&parent_id=17
Latest Update: Wednesday17/6/2009June, 2009, 11:24 PM Doha Time Tehran eyes nuclear weapons technology, says ElBaradei Iran wants the ability to build nuclear weapons to gain the reputation of a major power in the Middle East, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said in a BBC interview broadcast yesterday. Tehran denied the assertion. But International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Mohamed ElBaradei told Iran at an IAEA meeting that it would not be trusted unless "you go the extra mile" and lift restrictions on UN inspections. ElBaradei said the Islamic Republic sees a nuclear breakout ability as an "insurance policy" against perceived threats from neighbouring countries or the US. "My gut feeling is that Iran definitely would like to have the technology ... that would enable it to have nuclear weapons if they decided to do so," he told the BBC. The enrichment process can be configured to produce fuel either for nuclear power plants or weapons. "(Iran) wants to send a message to its neighbours, it wants to send a message to the rest of the world: yes, don't mess with us, we can have nuclear weapons if we want it," said ElBaradei. "But the ultimate aim of Iran, as I understand it, is that they want to be recognised as a major power in the Middle East and they are. "This is to them the road to get that recognition to power and prestige and ... an insurance policy against what they heard in the past about regime change, axis of evil." "He's absolutely wrong. We don't have any intention of having nuclear weapons at all," Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh told an impromptu news conference outside a meeting in Vienna of the IAEA's 35-nation governing body. "Nuclear weapons are not in our defence doctrine. We do not consider nuclear weapons any advantage ... we will never have (them). But we are going to have nuclear technology for peaceful purposes ... We will continue fuel cycle activities without any interruption because Iran has a legitimate need." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
