Iran says won't give up enrichment, ready to talk

TEHRAN, June 1 (Reuters) Iran will not give up what it calls its right to enrich uranium, as demanded by the West, but is ready to hold talks with the United States, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said today.

''We will not give up our nation's natural right (to enrichment), we will not hold talks over it. But we are ready to hold talks over mutual concerns,'' Mottaki said in response to a US offer of talks if Iran suspended enrichment activities.

''Iran supports fair talks without discrimination,'' he said, but added that Washington had to change its behaviour if it wanted new relations with Iran.

In a major policy shift, the United States said on Wednesday that it would join European governments in direct nuclear talks with Iran if it suspends its uranium enrichment, which Western powers believe is aimed at developing an atomic bomb.

The offer was announced by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before major powers were to meet on Thursday in Vienna to discuss Iran's nuclear activities.

''Rice's statement was not something new. This is what was said in her previous speeches and interviews. It lacked a logical and new solution to resolve Iran's nuclear issue,'' Mottaki said in Iran's first official reaction.

''It (Rice's announcement) was like a piece of literature and ...

was aimed at covering up their failure in Iraq and other parts of the world,'' he said.

Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, says its atomic aims are civilian and that it only wants to generate electricity.

Direct talks with Tehran on the nuclear dispute would mark a big change in US relations with Iran following a break in formal diplomatic ties after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the hostage-taking of 52 Americans in the US embassy for 444 days.

Tehran has previously said it was willing to negotiate on the number of uranium-enriching centrifuges it uses for research, but has stressed it would not stop running the devices entirely as the UN Security Council has called for.

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