On the 25th September 2007, the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, made a highly assertive speech at the General Assembly meeting currently being held in New York. A day later, his comments were shot down in flames by the US.

President Ahmadinejad affirmed that the issue of Iran's nuclear programme could be considered "closed", and that the matter had now been passed over to the International Atomic Energy Agency, with which Iran is now cooperating. Additionally, he described the Security Council's imposition of sanctions on Iran as "bullying".

According to Nicholas Burns - the US Under-Secretary of State for Political Affairs - President Ahmadinejad is "badly mistaken" if he believes the concern surrounding the level of Iran's nuclear capability can be suppressed through its IAEA association. The cooperation began in August 2007, when Iran agreed to respond to certain questions posed by the United Nations relating to the middle east nation's nuclear programme. Iran's answers need to be provided in this regard by the end of 2007.

Mr Burns - who is the US State Department's key source on nuclear issues - made his comments whilst preparing for a key meeting with another influential figure from the field of nuclear activity. Speaking to the media gathered at the event, he conceded that Iran's partnership with the IAEA did have merit, in the sense that it may turf up key information relating to historical Iranian nuclear development. However, he added, it would be entirely ineffective in discovering anything about the current state of Iran's nuclear programme.

"I'm sorry to tell the president, President Ahmadinejad, that the case is not closed", he said.

"There are three Security Council resolutions on the books against his country - resolution 1696 of July 31 2006, resolution 1737 of December 23 2006, and resolution 1747 of March 24, 2007. And so the Iranian president is badly mistaken if he thinks the international community is going to forget about the fact that this country is continuing, against the will of the United Nations Security Council, its nuclear research programs at Natanz for enrichment and reprocessing."

During the course of his 15 minute speech (the time limit imposed on all world leaders taking part), the Iranian President re-affirmed the peaceful nature of his country's nuclear activities. He added that, under the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (or NPT), Iran was well within its rights.

However, officials in the US maintain that the nuclear production is being harnessed to develop weaponry, and, through its concealment of said activity, Iran is in fact in breach of the NPT.

Source - Armed Forces International's US Correspondent

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