TEHRAN: Iran will "discipline" the West by holding off talks with world powers over Tehran’s nuclear program until the end of August, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday.
The hardliner said at a Tehran news conference that Iran would also seek the inclusion of Brazil and Turkey in nuclear fuel swap negotiations with the United States, France and Russia.
Asked when Tehran would talk with world powers over its overall nuclear program, Ahmadinejad said the "negotiations (would likely occur) after the middle of Ramadan," around the end of August.
"We are postponing the talks because of the bad behavior and the adoption of the new resolution in the (UN) Security Council.
This is a penalty, so that they (world powers) are disciplined to learn the way of talking to other nations."
The United Nations Security Council imposed a fourth set of sanctions on Iran on June 9 for refusing to halt its sensitive uranium enrichment work.
Speaking on the separate issue of the nuclear fuel swap deal, Ahmadinejad said Iran was ready to talk, "but the talks will be held on the basis of the Tehran Declaration."
"Naturally if France, Russia and the US are coming from the other side, from this side it will be Iran, Turkey and Brazil who will participate in the talks," Ahmadinejad said.
The fuel "exchange is a way for engagement and this is better than confrontation."
On May 17, Iran, Turkey and Brazil signed what is now called as Tehran Declaration, a proposal which envisages shipping Iran’s low-enriched uranium to Turkey to be followed at a later date with the supply of high enriched uranium to Tehran from Russia and France.
Ahmadinejad also insisted that world powers themselves "say that they respect the Non-Proliferation Treaty" and the "negotiators must clearly express their position on nuclear weapons possessed by the Zionist regime."
Israel, believed to be the sole if undeclared owner of nuclear weapons arsenal, has not ruled out a military strike against Iran’s nuclear sites.
Ahmadinejad also rejected the remarks of the chief of Central Intelligence Agency, Leon Panetta, that Iran could have nuclear weapons ready to use by as early as 2012.
"We have clearly declared that the nuclear bomb belongs to politically retarded governments who lack logic," Ahmadinejad said.
"What good is an atom bomb to anyone? The stupidest thing today is accumulating atomic weapons. They seek accomplices in the crime and Iran will not be an accomplice in their crime. We are standing firm on disarmament."
Speaking on US television, Panetta said on Sunday that Iran has manufactured enough low-enriched uranium for two atomic weapons.
He said Tehran would need a year to enrich it fully to produce a bomb, and that it would take "another year to develop the kind of weapon delivery system in order to make that viable."
"There is a continuing debate right now about whether or not they ought to proceed with a bomb. But they clearly are developing their nuclear capability and that raises concerns," Panetta told ABC network’s "This Week" program.
Earlier on Monday, Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that Panetta’s remarks were part of a "psychological warfare" against Iran.
Western powers led by Washington suspect Iran is masking a weapons drive under what Tehran says is a civilian atomic program.
The UN sanctions imposed earlier this month were followed by unilateral measures by the United States and European Union targeting Iran’s energy sector and its banking industry.
Iranian officials, including Ahmadinejad, have dismissed the sanctions and vowed to continue with the country’s nuclear program.
