UN: Major powers were trying to impose "an apartheid regime" on access to nuclear technology, Iranian president Mahmood Ahmadinejad told the UN General Assembly at the weekend.
Amid growing concern about Iran's nuclear intentions, he warned against a division between "light and dark" countries, with the first group having access to nuclear technology but not the second.
"We are concerned that once certain powerful states completely control nuclear energy resources and technology, they will deny access to other states and thus deepen the divide between powerful countries and the rest of the international community. When that happens, we will be divided into light and dark countries," he said.
He claimed that these "hegemonic powers" had misrepresented Iran's peaceful nuclear technology programme as a move towards the development of nuclear weapons. "This is nothing but a propaganda ploy."
Iran was prepared to involve foreign firms as partners in its uranium enrichment programme as a confidence-building measure, but President Ahmadinejad warned: "If some try to impose their will on the Iranian people through resort to a language of force and threat with Iran, we will reconsider our entire approach to the nuclear issue."
Western countries expressed disappointment at Dr Ahmadinejad's proposals, which came in advance of today's meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna to consider a US-EU proposal to bring Iran before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions for its nuclear activities.
With the conclusion of the world summit of heads of state and government last Friday, the General Assembly debate, mainly conducted by foreign ministers and their equivalents, has now begun, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, is due to speak this evening.
US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice began by thanking those member states, including Ireland, which had contributed to the relief of distress after Hurricane Katrina. "My fellow citizens have experienced the compassion of the United Nations. I want to thank Secretary General Annan for mobilising the support of this institution. And I want to thank the representatives of 126 countries that have offered their assistance in the relief effort. The United States will never forget your generosity in our time of need."
On the nuclear issue, she said that, "Countries like Iran threaten the effectiveness of the global non-proliferation regime." She added that questions about Iran's nuclear activities remained unanswered despite the repeated efforts of the IAEA.
"After agreeing to negotiate with Europe, Iran has unilaterally walked away from the talks and restarted its nuclear programmes. All of this from a leading state sponsor of terrorism, which threatens to destroy the fragile opportunity for peace that now exists in the Middle East," Dr Rice said.
She called on Iran to return to negotiations with the EU-3 of Britain, France and Germany - "and abandon forever its plans for a nuclear weapons capability".
Welcoming the agreement at the summit to replace the UN's Human Rights Commission with a Human Rights Council, Dr Rice said the new body should "never - never - empower brutal dictatorships to sit in judgment of responsible democracies. The Human Rights Council must have the moral authority to condemn all violators of human rights - even those that sit among us in this hall."