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Iran: Pressure Will Not Make it Abandon Nuclear Program
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=11D7E4F:3919ACA Foreign Ministry
spokesman says Tuesday's meeting of permanent Council members, plus
Germany, is of more importance to participants than to Iran Iran has
warned permanent United Nations Security Council members that no
amount of pressure will make it abandon its nuclear program.







Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi (file)Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi says Tuesday's meeting of the five
permanent Council members plus Germany is of more importance to the
participants than to Iran.  He says previous attempts to pressure Iran
have failed to persuade it to stop nuclear activities.

Tuesday's talks in Moscow among the Council members come a week before
the full Security Council is to hear a report on Iran from the
International Atomic Energy Agency.

In Washington, President Bush today reiterated that all options remain
on the table with regard to Iran, but that he wants to resolve the
issue diplomatically.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, appearing at an armed forces
parade in Tehran today, said any aggressor would regret attacking his
country.  Mr. Ahmadinejad said his country's military is one of the
world's most powerful armies.

Earlier this month, Iran carried out war games in the Persian Gulf and
announced the testing of many new weapons.  Among the
Iranian-developed devices were a radar-evading missile and a
high-speed, sonar-evading torpedo.  Some information for this report
was provided by AFP and AP .


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