Iran in 'final step' of nuke program

Iran in 'final step'
of nuke program
Ahmadinejad makes declaration
as U.N. struggles to find response

While Ahmadinejad did not elaborate, Iran has said it will continue its program despite a U.N. effort to stop uranium enrichment, which Western nations believe is aimed at building nuclear weapons.

"The Iranian nation is about to take its final step in the nuclear issue," the official IRNA news agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying, according to Reuters.

The U.N. security council, with challenges from Russia and China, is still trying to come to an agreement on sanctions against Iran.

Iran has two experimental chains of 164 centrifuges that could be used to make a bomb or make fuel for power plants. But Ahmadinejad said earlier this week the goal is to have 60,000 centrifuges. Tehran plans to have 3,000 installed by March.

The International Atomic Energy Agency – the U.N. watchdog – accused Iran of stonewalling attempts to determine whether its plans are peaceful.

Ahmadinejad has called repeatedly for the destruction of Israel – or for moving the Jewish state to Europe.

His address to the U.N. in September revealed his steadfast and driving conviction, as previously reported in WND, that a messianic figure, known as the "Mahdi" to Muslims, is poised to reveal himself after an apocalyptic holocaust on Earth that leaves most of the world's population dead.

"I emphatically declare that today's world, more than ever before, longs for just and righteous people with love for all humanity; and above all longs for the perfect righteous human being and the real savior who has been promised to all peoples and who will establish justice, peace and brotherhood on the planet," Ahmadinejad said. "Oh, Almighty God, all men and women are your creatures and you have ordained their guidance and salvation. Bestow upon humanity that thirsts for justice, the perfect human being promised to all by you, and make us among his followers and among those who strive for his return and his cause."