Iran says opposition group lies on nukes

AP Interview: Iranian Ambassador Says Opposition Group Fabricates Nuclear Weapons Allegations

Iran's ambassador to the United Nations said Monday that an Iranian opposition group is feeding fabricated evidence to Washington that purports to show the Tehran government tried to produce nuclear weapons.

Ambassador Mohammad Khazee said in an interview with The Associated Press that the U.S. is getting unreliable intelligence from the Mujahedeen Khalq, also known as the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, which was allied with Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. The U.S. and European Union list it as a terrorist group.

Khazee insisted Iran has resolved all outstanding issues about its nuclear program and said Tehran should not face any new U.N. sanctions. He warned that new sanctions would harm "the credibility" of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The U.N. Security Council, however, is expected to approve a third round of sanctions against Iran later this week for its defiance of a council demand that it suspend uranium enrichment until it has allayed suspicions about its nuclear program.

Khazee said at a news conference that if new sanctions are approved "it would not be logical to comply with the resolution."

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disputed the Iranian assessment of the IAEA report, saying it provided "very strong" grounds for the Security Council to move ahead quickly with new sanctions. Raw Story