Iran says threats won't work in any atomic talks

TEHRAN, June 8 (Reuters) Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today said threats would not work in solving a dispute over the country's nuclear programme but Iran was ready to clear up misunderstandings with the world.

Ahmadinejad's televised speech was his first public comments since proposals backed by six world powers with the aim of defusing the nuclear standoff were presented to Iran this week.

''Negotiations should take place in a fair atmosphere. If they (the international community) think they can threaten and hang a stick over the head of the Iranian nation and negotiate at the same time, they should know the Iranian nation will reject such an atmosphere,'' he told a rally.

''The Iranian nation will never negotiate about its certain rights with anybody,'' he said without specifying those rights.

Ahmadinejad and other Iranian officials have previously insisted that Iran would not give up uranium enrichment, the main demand in the package of proposals, because they say it is a national right.

Iran has been hauled before the UN Security Council for failing to convince that world that its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful, as Tehran insists. The West accuses Iran of trying to make atomic bombs.

Ahmadinejad suggested Iran was ready to discuss misunderstandings with the world, without specifically mentioning the West's nuclear worries.

''We will talk about mutual concerns and solving misunderstandings in the international arena,'' he said.

REUTERS KD VV1612