Iran says it wants to stay within nuke rules

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the 28th anniversary of Iran's revolution yesterday pledging to pursue the country's nuclear program but announcing no new atomic work that would have riled the West.

Ahmadinejad, under pressure at home to tone down speeches his critics say have helped push Iran toward international isolation, said he would keep within international regulations but still ruled out a UN demand to suspend uranium enrichment.

Iran has until February 21 to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can make fuel for power stations or, if greatly enriched, material for warheads. A UN sanctions resolution passed in December threatened further measures if Iran refuses.

"We are ready for talks but will not suspend our activities," Ahmadinejad told hundreds of thousands of Iranians in Teheran's Azadi (Freedom) square to mark the 1979 Islamic revolution, saying suspension would be "humiliation".

Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, met European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Germany yesterday to discuss the row. Solana said after the meeting no deal had been reached but possible solutions were being explored.

The United States, which has stepped up pressure on Iran by sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf, has been adamant it would not accept anything short of full suspension.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy also said the international community's demand was "exceedingly clear". "(Iran) can accept what the international community has said and suspend its sensitive nuclear activities and then we would be ready to suspend our sanctions in the United Nations Security Council," he told French radio.

Ahmadinejad said Iran would work within the "regulations and treaties" of the UN International Atomic Energy Agency.

He also told demonstrators waving banners saying "Nuclear energy is our obvious right" that Iran would announce "great" achievements in the days up to April 9, "especially nuclear" developments. He insisted Iran's atomic work was peaceful.

Although often the most vocal, Ahmadinejad is not the most powerful figure in Iran. The final say lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has also vowed not to give up Iran's peaceful atomic ambitions.

Solana said he held a "good meeting" with Larijani in Munich and said the Iranian negotiator would continue talks with other Western politicians. "We will try to see if we can recuperate a sense of dialogue and find any possible solutions," Solana said.

Diplomats say a proposal being weighed by some European states would permit Iran to keep enrichment infrastructure of several hundred centrifuges but not to put feedstock in the machines during talks over a package of incentives.

Source: China Daily/Agencies