Annan Tells Iran to Disregard UN Deadline

Iranian wacko president Mahmoud AhmedI'manutjob dropped a bit of a bombshell on the media today during a press conference at the UN. He told the assembled media horde that UN Secretary General Kofi Annan advised him to ignore a Security Council resolution:

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Thursday was trying to settle a flap over a potentially damaging claim made earlier in the day by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad said Annan had told him Iran could ignore a Security Council resolution requiring the country to cease enriching uranium by Aug. 31 or face economic sanctions. The Security Council sought the resolution in the face of rising fears over Iran's possible moves toward building nuclear weapons: Uranium enrichment is one of the key factors in that process.

But in its most recent report, the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, found that Iran had continued enriching uranium through the deadline, bypassing Security Council Resolution 1696.

"We didn't understand and couldn't understand why a resolution was passed in the midst of an examination of a package," Ahmadinejad said. "We think [the Security Council] was probably under pressure by some powers who constantly want to place pressure on countries. The secretary-general told me to disregard what has happened for the time being, resort to diplomacy."

Advising a nation to ignore a Security Council resolution would be a violation of Annan's responsibilities as Secretary General. He reports to the Security Council.

However, if he did that I certainly won't be surprised. Annan is not a friend of the United States and clearly prefers to support the dictatorial and dangerous regimes of the world in opposition to the US.