Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assured that his country supported peace, progress, and security of all world nations, reassuring that Iran did not need an atomic bomb.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad assured that his country supported peace, progress, and security of all world nations, reassuring that Iran did not need an atomic bomb.

Ahmadinejad, who is currently in a visit to Benin as part of a West African tour, tackled on Monday the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program, which he stressed was peaceful.

"They accuse Iran, like all nations that seek to rapidly find their way out of the current domination," Ahmadinejad said in a speech at a Benin university.

"We don't need an atomic bomb. ... And besides, it is not atomic bombs that threaten the world, but Western morals and culture declining in values,” he added.

On Sunday, the Iranian president indicated, during a dinner held on his honor by Benin President Thomas Yayi Boni, that both countries “favored justice, freedom and dignity for all nations of the world.”

“Tehran believes that international relations should be based on mutual respect and justice,” Ahmadinejad added.

The Iranian president arrived in Benin Sunday afternoon on the first leg of his three-nation African tour which would later take him to Niger and Ghana.