Algerian officials said Sunday Iran asked them to send a message to the United States that Tehran will defend its right to nuclear energy.
An official source told United Press International on condition of anonymity that the visit to Algeria last week by Hassan Rohani, secretary-general of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was aimed at "sending a clear message to Washington that Iran is ready to defend its right to possess nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."
The source said Rohani asked for Algeria's support on the nuclear issue and to tell the United States his country "is not Afghanistan or Iraq because America waged a war against a group of scattered people in the mountains in Afghanistan and fought a war against a dictator unwanted by his people in Iraq."
Rohani reportedly told Algerian officials the United States does not have the right to "determine who has the right to own nuclear energy and who doesn't."
Last week, Algerian President Abdul Aziz Bouteflika, who enjoys close relations with the United States and Iran, criticized "attempts by powerful nations to monopolize nuclear technology."
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
