Ahmadinejad: Iran to pursue nuclear program as long as Israel has nukes

Iran will continue its nuclear program as long as Israel continues to have nuclear weapons, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said. He made the remarks during a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "When an illegal regime possesses nuclear weapons, the other countries' rights for peaceful nuclear energy cannot be denied," the Iranian news agency ISNR quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. "The Zionist regime is a threat to all nations and it wants the region to be free of strong countries," Ahmadinejad reportedly told Erdogan. "Today we see that applying force in Gaza was not enough for them, so they are attacking holy Jerusalem."

Ahmadinejad called on the countries to stand together to overcome regional "threats." The meeting came as United Nations nuclear inspectors visited the site of a previously unknown underground nuclear enrichment plant, and two weeks after Turkey canceled a NATO military exercise due to Israeli participation.

Iran and Turkey reportedly agreed to increase the level of their annual bilateral trade to US$ 30 billion. "Following a proposal from Iran, the level of trade between Iran and Turkey will increase to $30 billion within the coming 4 to 5 years," the news agency IRNA quoted Iran’s Vice-President Rahimi as saying. "The level of trade ties between Iran and Turkey stands at about $11 billion, which is not satisfactory," he added.

Meanwhile, US National Security Adviser James Jones told the Jewish lobby group J Street that the United States were prepared to respond if Iran does not abide by its commitments. "Iran now needs to follow through on its commitments," Jones said, adding: "Nothing is off the table...We will see if engagement is able to produce the concrete results we need, and we'll be prepared if it does not.” His comments came after Iranian state television said Tehran wanted "very important changes" to an IAEA-brokered nuclear fuel deal and would offer its formal response by Thursday.