Iran Prez: Israel doomed, Obama made a mistake
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday that Israel was “doomed” and singled out US President Barack Obama for scorn after the UN agreed a fresh round of nuclear sanctions against his country.
Speaking during a visit to the World Expo in Shanghai, Mr Ahmadinejad denounced the UN Security Council’s sanctions resolution adopted on Wednesday with Chinese and Russian backing as “worthless paper”.
The firebrand leader accused global nuclear powers of “monopolising” atomic technology and said the new sanctions would “have no effect”.
Mr Ahmadinejad chose a visit to his country’s national pavilion during “Iran Day” at the Shanghai Expo in preference to an appearance at a regional security summit in Uzbekistan attended by the Chinese and Russian leaders. Presidents Hu Jintao of China and Dmitry Medvedev of Russia were in Tashkent on Friday for the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
The SCO was set Friday to snub Iran’s membership bid, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov indicated, leaving Tehran increasingly isolated over its refusal to renounce uranium enrichment.
Mr Ahmadinejad’s visit to the Expo comes at a delicate time in Tehran’s relations with its ally China, one of the five permanent veto-wielding members of the Security Council. His government had earlier reacted furiously to China’s decision to fall into line with the United States and other powers that accuse Iran of covertly trying to build nuclear weapons.
Mr Ahmadinejad shied away from criticising China, which has emerged as Iran’s closest trading partner. “The main problem is the US administration, and we have no problem with others,” he told reporters, accusing the United States of seeking to “swallow” West Asia.
Swatting aside the US leader’s offers of dialogue and rapprochement if Iran relents on its nuclear ambitions, Mr Ahmadinejad said: “I think President Obama has made a big mistake... he knows the resolution will have no effect.
“Very soon he will come to understand he has not made the right choice and he has blocked the way to having friendly ties with the Iranian people.”
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