Iran defiant amid new nuclear row 伊朗为核设施辩护

Iran's newly-revealed nuclear facility is open for inspection¹ by UN experts, the country's president has said.

伊朗总统称，伊朗新建核设施对联合国专家开放视察。

Ahmadinejad said Iran worked within rules set by the UN

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted that the plant, thought to be under construction near the holy city of Qom, was being built in line with UN regulations.

Leaders of the US, UK and France have accused Iran of building a new plant to enrich uranium, in breach² of UN rules.

They raised the prospect³ of new, tough sanctions against Iran if it does not fully⁴ co-operate with global powers.

However, at a news conference in New York, where he has been attending the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Ahmadinejad firmly rebutted⁵（辩，反驳） the Western criticism.

Those leaders who had complained about the plant had made a big mistake and would regret the move, he said.

"We don't have any problems with inspections⁶ of the facility. We have no fears," he said, referring to calls for immediate⁷ access to the site by inspectors⁸ from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN watchdog.

He justified⁹ Iran's apparent concealment¹⁰（隐匿，隐蔽） of the plant by saying there were no international requirements to declare any nuclear facility until 180 days before fissile（易分裂的） material was introduced into it.

There was a flat denial of the claims - by US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown - that the plant was a secret facility.

"If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time?" Mr Ahmadinejad was reported as saying.

He reiterated¹¹（反覆地说，反覆地做） Tehran's position that Iran was not interested in developing nuclear weapons, describing them as "against humanity".

'Serial¹² deception¹³'

Mr Ahmadinejad spoke¹⁴ out hours after Mr Obama, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Brown took to the stage in Pittsburgh - site of a G20 summit - to condemn¹⁵ the building of the new plant.

Iran's decision to build a secret facility represented a "direct challenge to the basic compact" of the global non-proliferation regime, Mr Obama said.

Despite Iran's assertions that the facility was for peaceful purposes, the new plant was "not consistent" with that goal, the US president said.

Speaking after Mr Obama, Mr Brown accused the Iranians of "serial deception（骗局，诡计）" and said: "Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear programme."

Mr Sarkozy described the situation as a challenge to the entire international community.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was "seriously concerned", and China urged Iran to work within the IAEA framework.