Iran won't give up its nuke plan

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, September 29, 2003

Iran won't give up its nuke plan

Iran's foreign ministry said yesterday Teheran would not give up its nuclear programme, including uranium enrichment, despite international pressure to prove it is not developing atomic weapons.

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Iran's foreign ministry said yesterday Teheran would not give up its nuclear programme, including uranium enrichment, despite international pressure to prove it is not developing atomic weapons.

"Abandoning peaceful nuclear activities or enrichment is not something that Iran is ready to compromise on," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference.

It was the latest in a series of mixed messages from Teheran since a resolution by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this month gave Iran until October 31 to prove it has no secret nuclear arms programme and told it to halt enrichment activities.

IAEA inspectors are due in Teheran on Thursday for a round of further inspections and talks with Iranian officials.

If doubts remain in November about Iran's nuclear ambitions - which Teheran insists are limited to generating electricity - it may be reported to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.

Clerical hardliners in Islamic Iran argue that Teheran should follow the Democratic People's Republic of Korea's example by pulling out of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), a move which would put its nuclear programme firmly underground.

But officials from the reformist government have said that while Iran is not prepared to halt its nuclear programme it will co-operate with the IAEA and is considering signing an Additional Protocol to the NPT which would allow snap inspections of nuclear sites.

"We are interested in solving the issue and we believe that negotiations and talks should continue with the IAEA," Asefi said. "If both sides talk transparently and answer some ambiguities ...naturally Iran's co-operation with the agency could bear good results."

US President George W. Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday urged Iran to give up any hopes of building nuclear weapons and to expand its co-operation with the IAEA.

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