Iran says new U.S. nuclear strategy under pressure of Israel: president

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that the new U.S. nuclear policy was signed under the pressure of Israel, the local satellite Press TV reported.

Ahmadinejad said the U.S. President Barack "Obama signed onto the new nuclear policy under the pressure of Israeli lobby groups, " the report said.

The United States will not use or threaten to use nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapons states that are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and in compliance with their nuclear non-proliferation obligations, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in a joint briefing with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on the newly released strategy, known as Nuclear Posture Review (NPR).

This conditional assurance means that countries like Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea that have violated or renounced the treaty would remain on the potential target list of U.S. nuclear forces.

If president Obama follows the path of former U.S. president George W. Bush, he would face a crushing response by world nations, Ahmadinejad said without elaborating, according to the official IRNA news agency's relevant report.

Iran's President made the remarks on Wednesday in Orumiyeh, the capital city of northwestern province of Iran's West Azerbaijan.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki Wednesday dismissed the new U.S. nuclear strategy as "propaganda" and urged Washington to fulfill its promise on nuclear disarmament.

Source: Xinhua