WASHINGTON — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has dismissed a British newspaper report that said Iran is working on a trigger for a nuclear bomb as a "fabrication," in an interview with US television released Sunday.
Ahmadinejad waved away a copy of the purported document when presented it by ABC news anchor Diane Sawyer during a sit-down interview, according to excerpts released ahead of its scheduled airing Monday.
"No, I don't want to see this kind of document. These are some fabricated papers issued by the American government," he says through a translator, in his first public remarks on the matter.
Tehran's foreign ministry spokesman has previously dismissed the claim as a "scenario" hatched by Western powers.
The British newspaper the Times reported last week that foreign intelligence agencies dated the documents to early 2007 -- four years after US agencies had assessed Iran had suspended efforts to produce nuclear weapons.
The US State Department said Tuesday it would investigate the report, adding the "revelation" fueled concerns about Iranian intentions.
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