Ahmadinejad scorns world nuclear pressure

NASHVILLE, Tennessee - President George W. Bush vowed today the United States would defend Israel militarily if needed against Iran, and denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for "menacing talk" against Israel.

Bush also said he saw a "very good chance" the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) would refer Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Ahmadinejad, addressing a crowd of thousands in the Gulf port city of Bushehr, where Russia is helping Iran build its first nuclear power station, mocked international calls for Iran to rein in its nuclear programme.

"I am telling those fake superpowers that the Iranian nation became independent 27 years ago and ... on the nuclear case, it will resist until fully achieving its rights," he said.

Iran denies seeking the bomb, but now faces the prospect of being taken to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

"I am concerned about a person that, one, tries to rewrite the history of the Holocaust, and two, has made it clear that his intentions are to destroy Israel," Bush said in the interview aboard Air Force One en route to Nashville, Tennessee, from Washington.

'WE'LL DEFEND ISRAEL'

"Israel is a solid ally of the United States, we will rise to Israel's defence if need be. So this kind of menacing talk is disturbing," he added.

Asked if he meant the United States would rise to Israel's defence militarily, Bush said: "You bet, we'll defend Israel."

Ahmadinejad has prompted international condemnation for his anti-Israel rhetoric in recent weeks, including saying it should be wiped off the map, and also calling into question the Holocaust.

Israel is set to receive some $2.3 billion (NZ$3.3bn) in US military aid this fiscal year, the highest military assistance Washington provides for any country outside of Iraq.

The Security Council's five permanent members, including a reluctant Russia and China, this week agreed to ask the UN nuclear watchdog to report Iran to New York immediately.

The governing board of the IAEA will decide at an emergency meeting in Vienna on Thursday whether to report Iran to the Security Council as requested in a resolution agreed by the council's big five.

The resolution, obtained by Reuters, asks the IAEA's board to "convey" to the council reports by the agency that raise doubts about the nature of Iran's nuclear activities.

Despite support for Iran from countries like Venezuela and Syria, diplomats said the resolution should pass with a comfortable majority of the 35-member board.

The IAEA said in a confidential report on Tuesday that Iran had already begun preparing for uranium enrichment and continued to hinder the UN watchdog's inquiries into its atomic work.

Prime Minister Tony Blair told parliament Iran was not only breaching its nuclear obligations, but also "exporting terrorism around the region" and violating human rights.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw met his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki in London and told him to uphold voluntary nuclear safeguards and to avoid making threats.

However, Iran's parliament reminded the government that under a law approved last year it must resume uranium enrichment and halt voluntary compliance with the Additional Protocol to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if sent to the council.

REMOVING CAMERAS

Chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said this would mean removal of some fixed IAEA cameras used in monitoring that Iran has allowed under the protocol it has signed but not ratified.

Deputy foreign ministers from Russia and China held talks in Iran to explain what the big powers had decided in London.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Kislyak said after the talks with Larijani that Moscow's offer to enrich uranium for Iran could progress only if Tehran restored a moratorium on nuclear activities, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported.

"If our Iranian friends take the decision to restore the moratorium ... all opportunities to settle the problem on the basis of cooperation around a joint venture in Russia will remain in force," Kislyak said.

Russia's proposal is aimed at ensuring that Iran does not master the tricky uranium enrichment technology that is vital for producing fuel for power stations, or bomb-grade material.

Bush said in his annual State of the Union address yesterday that the world must stop Iran joining the list of nuclear-armed nations.

"The Iranian government is defying the world with its nuclear ambitions -- and the nations of the world must not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons," he said.

Bush telephoned President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday to discuss the Iran nuclear problem, the Kremlin said.

Iran threatened to hit back hard if its atomic sites were attacked, with Defence Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najar promising "a crushing response," IRNA news agency said.

Even if the IAEA reports Iran to the Security Council, its permanent members foresee no action before the agency's chief delivers a full report to a regular IAEA meeting on March 6.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said sanctions would then be an option. "The complete range of sanctions is conceivable," he told the French daily Le Parisien.

- REUTERS