Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday defended his country’s peaceful nuclear program while on a tour of west Africa, arguing that Tehran has no use for an atomic bomb.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday defended his country's peaceful nuclear program while on a tour of west Africa, arguing that Tehran has no use for an atomic bomb.

Addressing a group of students and instructors at a Benin university on Monday, Ahmadinejad said Iran strives to ensure that all nations benefit from nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, calling the nuclear energy “a divine gift" providing affordable electricity.

"They accuse Iran, like all nations that seek to rapidly find their way out of the current domination," he said.

"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.

Western powers suspect Tehran of covertly developing the capacity to produce a nuclear bomb. However, Iran denies the claim and insists its program is for energy and medical purposes.

On Tuesday, Iran unveiled a new uranium production facility and two mines, only days after talks with world powers on its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad, who arrived in Benin on Sunday night, left Monday afternoon for neighboring Niger, one of the world's top producers of uranium.

Talks in Benin focused particularly on energy, agriculture and education, Benin officials said.

Ahmadinejad will travel to Ghana on Tuesday following his visit to Niger for the final leg of the tour.

Speaking to journalists at the airport before his departure, the Iranian President said the uranium mines inaugurated last week in Iran should "be more than enough for the ambitions of my country."

During his speech at the university, Ahmadinejad condemned what he called colonialist thinking from wealthy nations that exploit poorer countries.

"Colonialist thinking has not yet disappeared," he said. "Only the method has changed, but the system is still there."

"To save their economy, they impose war everywhere to cover their failure, the failure of the capitalist system," said Ahmadinejad, who is due to leave office after June elections.

In Niger, the Iranian president's visit was being welcomed by those who said the impoverished country should search for new partners in the sale of its uranium.

"We must from now on adhere to policies in our own interests, in selling our uranium to who we want, including Iran," Nouhou Arzika, a prominent civil society activist in Niger, told AFP.

The head of the student union at Niger's University of Niamey welcomed the Iranian leader's visit.

"We are a sovereign state and will deal with who we want," Mahamadou Djibo Samaila told reporters.

"Our uranium, our oil, we are going to sell them to who we want," he stressed.