Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned yesterday the Islamic republic could leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if forced by the West to limit its disputed nuclear program.
In a strongly worded speech to huge crowds marking the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution, the outspoken hardliner also repeated his view that Nazi Germany's mass killing of Jews was a "myth" and argued that Palestinians and Iraqis were suffering from "the real Holocaust."
"Until now, the Islamic republic's policy was to use the technology for peaceful ends," the president said, a week after Iran was reported to the UN Security Council amid fears it is seeking nuclear weapons.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has continued its nuclear drive within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the NPT, but if we see that you want to deprive us of our right using these regulations, know that the people will revise their policy in this regard," he warned.
Hundreds of thousands of Iranians were out in Tehran, answering a call from supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to put on a show of force in the face of mounting international pressure.
The reporting of its case to the Security Council exposes Iran to the danger of sanctions unless it returns to a nuclear freeze and cooperates more with the IAEA. So far Iran has reacted by doing the opposite.
"The Iranian people will never renounce their nuclear rights," Ahmadinejad said, drawing deafening chants from the crowd of "We will not give in."
"Your threats will not get you anywhere. Don't push us to the limit. Don't make us change our policy," said Ahmadinejad, raising the threat that Iran could follow the course of North Korea by abandoning the NPT.
Ahmadinejad also used the speech to lash out at arch-enemy Israel.
"Questioning the myth of the Holocaust and the creation of the phoney Zionist regime has haunted them," said Ahmadinejad, who appeared composed and determined.
"For more than 60 years, this myth has enabled the Zionists to blackmail the Western countries, justify the killing of women and children and make them refugees in occupied land," he said.
"The real Holocaust is happening today in Palestine and Iraq. If you are looking for the real Holocaust, look at the poor Iraqi people," he said.
He also lashed out against the publication in Western newspapers of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed by branding the offending press as "hostages to the Zionists."
"How come insulting the prophet is free, but investigating the Holocaust is banned?" he asked.
"We suggested to them that we will send an unbiased group to look at your documents in Europe and inform the nation, but you will not even allow your own scholars to investigate the Holocaust," Ahmadinejad complained.
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