Nicaragua’s Ortega says NKorea, Iran have right to nukes

MANAGUA: Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega (pix) on Thursday ardently defended the right of Iran and North Korea to develop nuclear weapons, saying the United States holds no authority to turn them back.Ortega made the remarks upon receiving Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.“We don’t love atomic bombs... but what authority (do Western powers have) to want to prohibit Iran if it wants to make atomic bombs?” Ortega asked with the Iranian minister by his side.He added that North Korea has the same sovereign right no matter how the United States or its allies feel about it.Western powers “don’t have the right to dictate who has and who doesn’t have atomic bombs,“ Ortega said, adding that he personally would like “all atomic bombs to disappear, starting with the ones of the Yankees.”Amir-Abdollahian thanked Ortega for his statement and said Tehran’s nuclear program has only peaceful aims -- an assertion disputed by the United States and other Western allies who signed an a