President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran questioned the veto right of the UN Security Council’s permanent members, two days before the council’s deadline demanding Tehran stop uranium enrichment.

“The US and Britain are the source of many tensions. At the Security Council, where they have to protect security, they enjoy the veto right. If anybody confronts them, there is no place to take complaints to,” he said during a press conference in the Iranian capital on Tuesday.

The UN Security Council has given Iran until Thursday to suspend a key part of its nuclear programme—the enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for weapons. But Iran has refused any immediate suspension, calling the deadline as illegal.

Ahmadinejad on Tuesday also called for having a televised debate with US President George W. Bush on world issues, which the White House immediately dismissed as a “diversion from the legitimate concerns of the international community”.

Meanwhile, France is ready to renew dialogue with iran on ending the standoff over its nuclear programme but will continue to insist that Tehran suspend uranium enrichment, Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said today.

“The Iranian authorities say they are open to dialogue and ready to resume discussions,” Douste-Blazy told a meeting of French ambassadors. “Without abandoning the demand to suspend sensitive activities, France is also ready to renew dialogue. But it must be a clear, concrete and responsible dialogue,” he said.

“We want this dialogue quickly, with a desire for serious discussion and with the concern to finally find solutions to the Iranian nuclear problem,” he added.

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