Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that his country
would press ahead with its nuclear program despite the West's pressure, the
official IRNA new agency reported.
"We will first have to break the horn of the big head so that justice can be
done," Ahmadinejad said, referring to pressure from the West over Iran's nuclear
dispute. In Farsi, to "break the horn of the big head" is an expression for
blunting arrogant behavior.
He also mentioned Iran's request for assistance from the UN atomic agency to
build a heavy water reactor in Arak, a central city 300 km south of Tehran.
However, diplomats at a 35-nation meeting of the agency said on Tuesday that
many members favored denying the request.
He said that he believed people who opposed the Arak program would fail to
force Iran to abandon it, saying "enemies express scattered words, they pose and
humiliate but surely they will not go far."
Iran has submitted an application to the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) for technical assistance to build a heavy water reactor in Arak, but the
prospect is slim due to objection by the United States and its allies.
