Wednesday May 14, 2008

Iran president to offer proposals to ease nuclear row

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will soon put forward new proposals to resolve its dispute with the West over its nuclear programme, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles while speaking with photographers before an official meeting with OPEC Secretary General Abdullah el-Badri in Tehran April 6, 2008. (REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl)

But he also made clear the Islamic Republic would not bow to U.N. demands and suspend uranium enrichment activity that Western powers suspect is aimed at producing bombs.

Hours after he spoke, the Iranian embassy in Brussels said its ambassador had presented proposals on global issues including its disputed nuclear programme to European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday.

An embassy statement gave no details but said the package involved "political, security, economic and energy (issues) and the question of the peaceful use of nuclear energy".

Iran, the world's fourth-largest oil producer, says its nuclear activities are a peaceful drive to generate electricity so that it can export more of its oil and gas.

"We have prepared a package which will soon be offered," Ahmadinejad told a news conference in Tehran, without giving details.

A diplomatic source in Europe said that what Iran last month billed as "serious" proposals for resolving its standoff with big powers reiterated Iran's known standpoints and contained no new ideas of substance.

"It is more a statement of position than proposal for ways to go forward. You cannot be hopeful this will bring the sides closer to dialogue," he told Reuters. "It re-states Iran's known principles -- inalienable rights to nuclear energy and so on. It doesn't propose anything substantially new.

Six world powers agreed in London on May 2 to offer a revised package of economic and other incentives to Iran if it first halted uranium enrichment, a process which can yield fuel for power plants or material for warheads.

Tehran has often ruled out suspending its nuclear programme, which has drawn three rounds of U.N. sanctions since 2006, and says it has its own ideas on how to help defuse the dispute.

Ahmadinejad said no incentives offered by the West would persuade Iran to abandon its right to nuclear sovereignty.

IRAN STANDING FIRM

"What do incentives mean?" he said. "Iran is a big power and wants nothing more than its legal right to nuclear technology. Nothing can persuade us to abandon our right."

Asked whether Iran would accept any proposal to temporarily stop expanding enrichment-related work during negotiations with world powers, Ahmadinejad said: "Let us receive (the package from them) and see what the proposals are."

He added: "What is certain is that the Iranian nation is serious on its rights and will not negotiate on its rights."

Iran has already aired its proposal with several European governments but no details have emerged publicly.

Analysts say it is no longer realistic to demand Iran shut down its programme before talks get going and that policymakers should explore a compromise allowing Tehran to keep some nuclear activity under more extensive U.N. inspections.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said the six powers were "finalising details" of the package and it would be delivered "as soon as it is ready". She added, "Our incentives package ... is the one with merit."

U.S. President George W. Bush, who visits the Middle East this week, called Iran "the single biggest threat to peace in the Middle East".

"The message to Iran is that, your desire to have a nuclear weapon, coupled with your statements about the destruction of our close ally (Israel), has made it abundantly clear ... that we have got to work together to stop you from having a nuclear weapon," Bush told Israel's Channel 10 in an interview.

Solana, who is expected to hand over the offer accompanied by big power envoys excluding the Americans, said he would meet Iran's ambassador to the EU shortly to look into a date for meeting "at a higher level".

Diplomats said the powers' offer was broadly based on a 2006 offer but more specific in terms of providing state-of-the-art nuclear reactors less prone to being misused for bombmaking, and an Iranian role in regional security cooperation.

The June 2006 package also included wider trade in civil aircraft, energy, high technology and agriculture.

(Additional reporting by Mark Heinrich in Vienna and Paul Taylor and David Brunnstrom in Brussels and Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington)

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