Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ended a tour of Latin America this week with little to show, but support for his resistance to Western efforts to end his country’s nuclear program.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad’s last stop was Ecuador.

At a news conference with President Rafael Correa, the Iranian leader denied widespread international suspicions that his country is developing nuclear weapons.

“The nuclear question is a political excuse,” said Ahmedinejad. “They all know that Iran is not trying to make an atomic bomb. Iran isn’t so imprudent as they are to spend its money and not be able to use these bombs.”