Iran says nuclear program peaceful, ready to talk

By Tomi Soetjipto

JAKARTA (Reuters) – Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and
has no military purpose, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said on Thursday, adding he was ready to engage in dialogue
with anybody.

In comments later to a university audience, which
enthusiastically cheered him, he called Israel a creature of
Europe that had no place in the Middle East.

In an interview broadcast earlier on local Metro
television, Ahmadinejad said of Iran’s nuclear program: “It has
nothing to do with nuclear weapons, or military purposes.”

He also said it was “ridiculous” for countries with nuclear
arsenals of their own to be pressing Iran to curb its effort to
develop nuclear energy.

“We also possess the technical and other capabilities to
defend our interests,” Ahmadinejad added.

He defended Iran’s nuclear policies again in his speech to
some 100 students and 200 guests at the University of
Indonesia, where some students displayed banners that said
“Iran in our hearts.”

Washington and its European allies have been seeking a U.N.
Security Council resolution that would oblige Iran to halt all
uranium enrichment work or face possible sanctions.

But this week the drive for a resolution slowed as
Washington agreed to first let Europeans devise a package of
benefits to induce Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions and
sanctions if it does not.

Consequently, there might not be a decision on a draft U.N.
resolution for about two weeks.

Tehran says it only wants to produce low-grade enriched
uranium to use in atomic power reactors, not the highly
enriched uranium needed to make bombs.

Iran is “ready to engage in dialogue with anybody,”
Ahmadinejad said in the Jakarta interview, responding to a
question on a letter he sent President Bush.

Bush said the letter failed to answer international demands
that Iran stop work which could be used to make nuclear arms.

Aside from the nuclear issue, Ahmadinejad’s university talk
ranged from suggesting to students they adopt a “can-do”
attitude to a fresh attack on Israel, which he has previously
said should be eliminated.

“If it’s true that six million Jewish people were killed
(in the Holocaust), they were killed in Europe and so why
should Israel (be) created in the Middle East,” he asked.

“… this regime will soon perish,” he added.

Ahmadinejad began his visit on Wednesday by meeting
Indonesian President Susilio Bambang Yudhoyono, who said
Jakarta had offered to help mediate the nuclear policy dispute.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, is on
good terms with Iran and other Middle East countries as well as
with the West.

Ahmadinejad is due to fly to Bali on Friday for a meeting
of the Developing Eight group that also includes Indonesia,
Nigeria, Malaysia, Egypt, Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

(With additional reporting by Harry Suhartono and Jerry
Norton)