- TEHRAN (MNA) -- Iran announced
on Friday that the United States has become infuriated by the nuclear agreement
between Iran and the European Union and United Nations nuclear watchdog
chief Mohamed ElBaradei's recent report on Iran's nuclear program.
-
- Outgoing Secretary of State Colin Powell said on Wednesday
that the U.S. has seen information suggesting Iran is working on the technology
to deliver a nuclear warhead on a missile.
-
- "The claims by Mr. Powell, made after the initial
agreement between Iran and the three European states and the statement
of Mr. ElBaradei, were inspired by that country's fury over the Islamic
Republic's transparency and efforts at confidence building," a statement
released by the Press Department of the Foreign Ministry said.
-
- "This claim is baseless. Weapons of mass destruction
have no place in the Islamic Republic of Iran's defense doctrine,"
the statement quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
-
- Asefi stated that U.S. officials have been repeatedly
discredited in the eyes of the world for spreading false reports, adding
that they must review their sources of information.
-
- The Washington Post said on Friday that Powell's announcement
was based on an "unvetted, single source".
-
- The intelligence, which two U.S. officials said had not
been verified is reminiscent of Powell's February 2003 UN speech about
Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, which was based on dubious
intelligence and which so far has proved untrue.
-
- http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=11/20/2004&Cat=2&Num=012
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