By ALI AKBAR DAREINI (AP Writer)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – Iran’s president said Saturday that President Barack Obama made a big mistake when he accused the country of hiding a newly revealed nuclear site that Iran claims it reported to the U.N. even earlier than required.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s comments came only hours before the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, arrived in Iran to arrange an inspection of the uranium enrichment facility near the holy city of Qom.
Iran agreed to allow U.N. inspectors into the facility at a landmark meeting with six world powers near Geneva on Thursday that put nuclear talks back on track and included the highest-level bilateral contact with the U.S. in three decades.
But the new site has raised concerns among the U.S. and many of its allies who suspect Iran of using its nuclear program as a way to develop weapons capability – an allegation rejected by Tehran.
ElBaradei recently said Tehran was “on the wrong side of the law” over its new plant because he argued the country should have revealed its plans as soon as it decided to build the facility – a position backed by the U.S.
Iranian officials disagree, saying that under IAEA safeguard rules, a member state is required to inform the agency about the existence of a nuclear facility six months before introducing nuclear material into the machines. Iran says the new facility won’t be operational for 18 months, so Iran has not violated any IAEA requirements.
Ahmadinejad said Iran voluntarily revealed the facility to the IAEA in a letter on Sept. 21, four days before Obama and the leaders of France and Britain denounced Tehran for hiding the nuclear site from the world for years.