Iran's newly-revealed nuclear facility is open for inspection by UN experts, the country's president said.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted the plant, thought to be under construction near the holy city of Qom, was being built in line with UN regulations.
Leaders of the US, UK and France accused Iran of building a new plant to enrich uranium, in breach of UN rules and raised the prospect of new, tough sanctions against Iran if it does not fully co-operate with global powers.
However, at a news conference in New York, where he has been attending the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Ahmadinejad firmly rebutted the Western criticism.
"We don't have any problems with inspections of the facility. We have no fears," he said, referring to calls for immediate access to the site by inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN watchdog.
He justified Iran's apparent concealment of the plant by saying there were no international requirements to declare any nuclear facility until 180 days before fissile material was introduced into it.
He denied claims - by US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown - that the plant was a secret facility. "If it was, why would we have informed the IAEA about it a year ahead of time?" Mr Ahmadinejad was reported as saying.
He reiterated Tehran's position Iran was not interested in developing nuclear weapons, describing them as "against humanity".
Mr Ahmadinejad spoke out hours after Mr Obama, Mr Sarkozy and Mr Brown took to the stage in Pittsburgh - site of a G20 summit - to condemn the building of the new plant.
Iran's decision to build a secret facility represented a "direct challenge to the basic compact" of the global non-proliferation regime, Mr Obama said.
Despite Iran's assertions that the facility was for peaceful purposes, the new plant was "not consistent" with that goal, the US president said.
Speaking after Mr Obama, Mr Brown accused the Iranians of "serial deception" and said: "Iran must abandon any military ambitions for its nuclear programme."
Mr Sarkozy described the situation as a challenge to the entire international community.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he was "seriously concerned", and China urged Iran to work within the IAEA framework.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed "grave concern" over Tehran's continued uranium enrichment activities, and said: "The burden of proof is on Iran".
The existence of Iran's first enrichment plant, at Natanz, was only confirmed after intelligence emerged from Iranian exile groups several years ago.
Western governments are said to have known of the existence of the new enrichment plant for some time.
In Washington, US officials said the Western nations decided to reveal their intelligence assessments when the Iranians realised the plant's secrecy was compromised.
The new facility is said to be underground at a mountain on the site of a former missile site belonging to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, north-east of the holy city of Qom.
Iran's letter to the UN watchdog, the IAEA, on Monday informed it that "a new pilot fuel enrichment plant is under construction".
Iran told the agency that no nuclear material had been introduced into the plant, and enrichment levels would only be high enough to make nuclear fuel, not a bomb.
In response, the IAEA requested Iran to "provide specific information and access to the facility as soon as possible".
The disclosure of the new plant comes one day after world leaders stressed the need for greater co-operation against nuclear proliferation and shortly before Iran is due to resume talks with international powers on the issue.
Earlier this month, Tehran agreed to "comprehensive" discussions on a range of security issues - but made no mention of its own nuclear programme.
The talks are due to be held in Geneva on 1 October with Tehran and the five permanent UN Security Council members - US, UK, Russia, China and France - plus Germany. (BBC News ) |
E-mail