Iran”s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday mocked U.S. President Barack Obama”s “extended hand” offer made earlier this year and said his country”s cooperation on its nuclear program had been spurned.
The U.S. president had been a disappointment to the world, Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Britain”s Channel 4 News, a full transcript of which was later posted on its website.
He once again dismissed a year-end deadline on a U.N.-drafted fuel deal, saying it was “meaningless.” The deal requires Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium (LEU) abroad in exchange for fuel for a Tehran research reactor.
The United States has made it clear it intends to pursue harsher sanctions against Iran in the United Nations if Iran fails to meet the deadline.
Ahmadinejad said Iran had made the proposal, and according to the regulations the offer of fuel was unconditional.
“But they are insisting that to have conditions for giving us the fuel — political conditions I mean — while the exchange of fuel is a technical job. I have not yet heard anybody who has given a deadline for this because it is meaningless.”
