UNITED NATIONS ��" UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the "onus" is on Iran to clear up suspicions that its nuclear program is aimed at building atomic weapons. Ban has called on Iran to comply fully with UN Security Council resolutions demanding that it halt its uranium enrichment program. He was speaking Monday at the start of a monthlong conference reviewing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Ban has spoken at the 189-nation conference before Iranian President Mahmound Ahmadinejad is to take the podium. Ahmadinejad is the only head of state participating in the conference. Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brings his nuclear showdown with Western powers to New York on Monday, turning a UN treaty conference into a stage for the long-running confrontation over Iran's uranium enrichment program. The only head of state participating, Ahmadinejad was one of Monday's scheduled kickoff speakers for the monthlong session, to review the workings of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT). Departing Tehran on Sunday, the Iranian leader made clear he would assail US-led efforts to impose a new round of UN sanctions on his country for refusing to stop its enrichment program, which Washington and others contend is meant to produce the nuclear fuel for bombs in violation of Iran's NPT obligations. "Under the pretext of prevention of nuclear weapons proliferation, they impose heavy pressures on independent countries," Ahmadinejad complained to reporters. He is also expected to counter with a denunciation of the United States and other nuclear-armed nations for their slow movement toward disarmament. "The atomic bomb has become a tool for bullying, domination and expansionism," he said Sunday.
