Iran: U.S. nukes can 'destroy the globe several times over'
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The 5,113 nuclear weapons the United States declared in its arsenal are enough to destroy the globe several times over, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday.
"The United States has declared that it has over 5,000 warheads now ... now imagine that with 5,000 bombs, you can destroy the globe several times over," he told reporters during a 90-minute news conference in the Millennium Hotel near the UN headquarters in New York.
The Iranian president was responding to a U.S. announcement Monday that it has 5,113 nuclear warheads in its stockpile plus "several thousand" more retired warheads, an unprecedented disclosure of the superpower's secret arsenal.
The unusual move by the Obama administration is seen as part of a campaign to get other nuclear nations to be more forthcoming, and to improve its bargaining position against Iran, which is accused of trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Ahmadinejad praised Washington's announcement as "a step forward," but said it raises "a few questions."
"It's no pride to possess 5,000 bombs," he said.
He also wondered where the weapons were located.
"Are they held in the United States?" he asked, using one of his favorite tactics, namely throwing questions back at reporters. "If that is the case, that is terrible because that means the American people are seriously in danger. If (the weapons are) in U.S. bases in other countries around the world, then the people who live around those bases are very threatened as well."
Still, he was not satisfied with the disclosure and said he would like to see an independent verification of the number declared.
"Has there been an independent, verifiable body to say whether there are 5,000, 7,000, 3,000, 15,000 warheads," the president said, chiding the U.S. government for expecting the world to blindly believe it when Washington is asking for verification of other governments' nuclear postures.
This is the crux of the problem between Iran and the United States, which is seeking verification of Tehran's nuclear program. While Tehran insists its purpose is strictly peaceful, Washington has voiced fears that Iran has had a secret nuclear program for a long time and cannot be trusted. It wants the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to verify, but claims Iran is thwarting the effort.
In a speech Monday at the review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) here in New York, Ahmadinejad pointed out that U.S. President Barack Obama had threatened Iran through his recently released nuclear review.
Obama had promised not to employ a nuclear first strike against nations in compliance with the NPT. However, the United States has said Tehran is not in compliance.
Responding to a reporter asking what Tehran would do if Iran were attacked, the Iranian president said at the press conference Tuesday, "If you throw a rock, you will receive a rock."
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