Ahmadinejad: US intel report victory for Iran

The US intelligence report released on Monday concluded that Iran had stopped its weapons programme in late 2003 and shown no signs since of resuming it, representing a sharp turnaround from a previous intelligence assessment in 2005.

“This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of people during a visit to Ilam province in western Iran.

“This was a final shot to those who, in the past several years, spread a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons,” Ahmadinejad said, drawing celebratory whistles from the crowd.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice would not directly respond to Ahmadinejad’s remarks, but told reporters in the Ethiopian capital on Wednesday that the US intelligence report’s public release showed the Bush administration was committed to transparent democracy while Iran was not.

Iran has touted the report as vindication of its claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and Iranian officials insist that Washington should take a less hawkish stance and drop attempts to impose new sanctions in light of the report’s surprise conclusions.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak has disputed the US conclusions, saying Israeli intelligence believes Iran is still trying to develop nuclear weapons.

President Bush defended his approach on Tuesday, and Rice said it would be a “big mistake” to ease any diplomatic pressure on Iran despite the new US findings.

“I continue to see Iran as a dangerous power in international politics,” Rice told reporters traveling with her to Ethiopia where she planned to see African leaders. “At this moment, it doesn’t appear to have an active weaponisation programme. That frankly is good news. But if it causes people to say, ‘Oh, well, then we don’t need to worry about what the Iranians are doing,’ I think we will have made a big mistake.”

The finding comes at a time of escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, which President Bush has labeled part of an “axis of evil,” along with Saddam Hussein-era Iraq and North Korea.

The United States and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a claim denied by Iran, which says its nuclear programme aims only to generate electricity.

Iran has rejected two UN Security Council resolutions, demanding that it halt uranium enrichment, a process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or a nuclear warhead.

Rice urged nations such as China and Russia not to harden their stance against a new round of sanctions.

“People need the opportunity to absorb what they’ve heard,” Rice said. “We have been completely transparent about what the intelligence assessment says. And people need a chance to read it. When they do that and when they read it in its detail and nuance, they will be able to see the points that I have made.”

But some analysts said it may be hard to maintain support for a swift new U.N. resolution that would further restrict trade with Iran.