UNITED NATIONS (AFP) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the UN General Assembly Tuesday that his nuclear standoff with the West was a "closed" matter, but his French counterpart said a nuclear-armed Iran was "unacceptable."
In another highlight on the opening day of the 192-member assembly summit, US President George W. Bush unveiled new sanctions on Myanmar's ruling junta and urged global pressure for democratic reforms to end the junta's decades-old "reign of fear."
After he spoke, the junta slapped dusk-till-dawn curfews on Myanmar's two largest cities late Tuesday after Buddhist monks defied warnings of a crackdown and led 100,000 people in another day of mass protests.
Ahmadinejad told world leaders gathered here for the assembly's 62nd session that the controversy over Iran's nuclear ambitions "is closed as a political issue" and should be handled "within the legal framework" and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Iran rejects Western charges that it is trying to build atomic weapons under the guise of its civilian nuclear program and insists it is entitled to pursue uranium enrichment as a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The UN Security Council has adopted three resolutions against Iran. Two include sanctions because of Iran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy earlier said it would be unacceptable for the Islamic republic to acquire nuclear weapons.
"Iran has the right to nuclear energy," Sarkozy said. "But allowing Iran to have nuclear weapons would mean an unacceptable risk for regional and world stability."
The French leader made it clear that there would be no world peace if the world community "shows weakness in the face of the proliferation of nuclear weapons."
He received loud applause at the end of his speech.
The United States is pushing for further UN sanctions on Tehran and is to hold further talks with the four other members of the Security Council -- France, Britain, Russia and China -- along with Germany on the issue this week.
In his address, Bush challenged the assembly to boost efforts to foster freedom and democracy in countries with repressive regimes. He put Iran on a list of "brutal regimes," including Syria, North Korea and Belarus, that "deny their people ... fundamental rights."
Bush also predicted the demise of 81-year-old communist Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who has been sidelined by surgery since July 2006, saying, "the long rule of a cruel dictator is nearing its end."
"The Cuban people are ready for their freedom. And as that nation enters a period of transition, the United Nations must insist on free speech, free assembly, and ultimately, free and competitive elections," he said.
The Cuban delegation walked out in protest, while the government in Havana responded by lambasting the US leader as a criminal with no moral authority.
Bush also charged that: "to be credible on human rights in the world, the United Nations must reform its own Human Rights Council.
"This body has been silent on repression by regimes from Havana to Caracas to Pyongyang and Tehran while focusing its criticism excessively on Israel," said the US president.
On Myanmar, Bush said: "Americans are outraged by the situation in Burma, where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear."
The new US measures he announced against Myanmar's rulers included a tightening of existing economic sanctions and expanding a visa ban on the top leadership.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon had opened the summit by calling on the junta to "exercise restraint, to engage without delay in dialogue with all the relevant parties to the national reconciliation process on the issues of concern to the people of Myanmar."
The day was also marked by a rare Security Council summit on Africa chaired by Sarkozy.
Sarkozy and Bush called for the rapid deployment of the 26,000-strong UN-African Union force to Sudan's war-torn region of Darfur and urged a ceasefire during peace talks planned for next month in Libya.
They also expressed support for a Security Council resolution adopted earlier endorsing the deployment of a European Union-UN force to Chad and the Central African Republic to protect civilians from the spillover of the Darfur conflict.
Under the French-drafted resolution, 300 UN policemen are tasked with monitoring camps for Darfur refugees and internally displayed persons, who number respectively an estimated 236,000 and 173,000 in Chad alone.
The UN police officers would be protected by the 3,000 European troops, mostly French, led by a British general.
In his address, Ahmadinejad reiterated that Tehran would "disregard unlawful and political impositions by the arrogant powers," a reference to the Security Council demand that it halt uranium enrichment.
He then denounced "bullying powers" who violate human rights, accusing them of spreading insecurity and destabilization around the world.
"Unfortunately human rights are being extensively violated by certain powers, especially by those who pretend to be their exclusive advocates," Ahmadinejad said, without mentioning the United States by name.
He also slammed the US-led invasion of Iraq and decried the plight of the Palestinian people, saying big powers "use various pretexts to occupy sovereign states and cause insecurity and division."
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