April 14 (Bloomberg) -- Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told United Nations leaders that the U.S. was attempting “nuclear blackmail” by retaining the option of using atomic weapons against his country.
Ahmadinejad, in a letter dated April 13, cited Secretary of Defense Robert Gates as saying that “all options are on the table” regarding the potential use of nuclear weapons against Iran in response to an attack. The statement was part of President Barack Obama’s Nuclear Posture Review that was released last week.
“Such inflammatory statements which are tantamount to nuclear blackmail against a non-nuclear weapon state” are a violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the UN Charter, Ahmadinejad said in the letter to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; Ali Treki of Libya, the president of the General Assembly; and Ambassador Yukio Takasu of Japan, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month.
The letter said the U.S. nuclear policy was a “threat to international peace and security” and asked the UN to “take action” to eliminate all nuclear weapons and to “strongly oppose the threat of use of nuclear weapons and to reject it.”
The letter came as Ahmadinejad also sent a letter to Obama, according to state-run Press TV.
Obama is trying to garner support from China for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran’s nuclear program. Additional measures may include the authority to seize cargo suspected of carrying weapons, and limits on investment in the energy industry and financial aid or credit for Iran.
In another letter to Ban this week, Ahmadinejad called for “an independent fact-finding team to launch a comprehensive investigation into the main intentions of NATO military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, the methods used, and the outcome of their presence and engagement, with the result to be presented to the General Assembly.”
--With assistance from Ladane Nasseri in Beirut. Editors: Mark Schoifet, Laurie Asseo.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bill Varner at the United Nations at