Ahmadinejad says Iran defiant over nuclear energy

ALGIERS (AFP) - Algeria gave its support to Iran yesterday in the row over Tehran's nuclear programme, as its guest President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran insisted his country would stand firm on the issue.

"Iran cannot talk to countries which do not recognise its right to produce nuclear energy for peaceful means," Ahmadinejad told a news conference on the second and final day of his visit.

He accused Western powers of mobilising all their energy to isolate Iran on this question but underlined Tehran's determination to continue efforts to acquire nuclear energy.

His host President Abdelaziz Bouteflika backed Iran in the row over its nuclear power programme, a day after US President George W. Bush again criticised Tehran over the issue.

Bouteflika said it was unacceptable that the legitimate right of a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (Iran) to acquire nuclear technology for strictly peaceful means should be blocked.