Ahmadinejad: Nuclear agency head is U.S. pawn

(AP)

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday criticized the head of the U.N.'s nuclear agency as an American pawn, in the run-up to its expected release of evidence which purports to document Tehran's nuclear weapons program.

Ahmadinejad also said that Iran's nuclear budget was roughly $270 million a year, in a rare official declaration of a monetary figure. He said that Iran will not withdraw from its controversial nuclear activities, which Tehran says are not geared toward weapons production.

The Iranian leader seemed to be striking a defiant stance in the face of increased pressure put on Tehran from traditional adversaries like the U.S., as well as the more sympathetically-inclined China. The U.N. Security Council hopes that Tehran will suspend nuclear enrichment and start negotiations on its nuclear program — which it refuses to do.

In remarks broadcast on state television Ahmadinejad said that International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano was simply repeating U.S. allegations. "He delivers the papers that American officials hand on him," Ahmadinejad said.

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"I am sorry that a person is heading the agency who has no power by himself and violates the agency's regulations, too," the Iranian president said.

He again reiterated Iran's claim that it is not involved in making a nuclear weapon. "They should know that if we want to remove the hand of the U.S. from the world, we do not need bombs and hardware. We work based on thoughts, culture and logic," he said.

Ahmadinejad said the U.S has recently added $81 billion to its current budget on nuclear weapons, some 300 times the entire Iranian nuclear budget.

These numbers would put Iran's nuclear budget at roughly $270 million per year. This is a rare official declaration of a figure.

U.S. officials say the government will use the International Atomic Energy Agency report as leverage in making its case to other countries that sanctions against Iran should be expanded and tightened and that the enforcement of current sanctions should be toughened.

Israel has also reiterated in the run-up to the report's release that it may at some point conduct a military strike against Iran's nuclear program.

Israeli defense minister Ehud Barak told Israel Radio Tuesday he is skeptical the international community would impose crippling sanctions on Iran after the report's release, and that Israel will continue to recommend that no option be taken off the table.

In an apparent answer to Barak, Iran's defense minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi on Tuesday said Iran would strongly respond to any strike.

"Any adventurous and hostile act against Iran will face a strong, swift and stern response by the Iranian armed forces," Gen. Vahidi was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.

Also on Tuesday China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said that while Beijing is firmly opposed to any use of force, "the Iranian side should also show flexibility and sincerity."

China is Iran's biggest trading partner but has supported previous U.N. sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program.

The report, which is expected to be issued Wednesday, will suggest that Iran made computer models of a nuclear warhead and include satellite imagery of what the IAEA believes is a large steel container used for nuclear arms-related high explosives tests, diplomats told the AP.

Iran denies that it has a weapons program and has called the report fabricated.