Iran insists needs talks to end atomic standoff

Tehran, Sep 1: Iran said today that talks were the only way to end a standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions but repeated a defiant line that it would not give up sensitive atomic work as demanded by the United Nations.

The UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said yesterday that Tehran had failed to meet an August.

31 deadline to halt uranium enrichment.

''The Islamic Republic of Iran believes the only possible way to achieve fair and acceptable results for all parties is through negotiations and by respecting Iran's legitimate rights,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.

''Iran's activities are transparent, public and have peaceful aims far away from any ambiguities and it (the issue) can be easily solved through negotiations,'' he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

The West accuses Iran of seeking to build atomic bombs, a charge Iran denies, saying its nuclear programme is designed to produce electricity.

The IAEA report also said Iran had recently resumed enriching small amounts of uranium and said Iran's lack of cooperation had blocked the UN atomic watchdog's probes.

Asefi said the report showed Iran had met its commitments under international regulations, including the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and also showed Iran's ''extensive cooperation'' with the IAEA.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his defiant line today, vowing never to give up Iran's nuclear ambitions.

''Islamic Republic of Iran will never retreat from its certain rights to peaceful nuclear activities,'' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying on state television.

''The claims of the Western countries who say Iran seeks nuclear weapons are sheer lies because we do not need nuclear weapons,'' he said.

The final say in all matters of state, such as the nuclear issue, lies with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rather than the president. But Khamenei has also insisted that Iran will press ahead with its nuclear plans.

One parliamentarian also struck a defiant tone.

''A plan is under study in the parliament's foreign policy committee saying that if the UN Security Council wants to deprive the Iranian nation from its definite rights, we will stop all of the IAEA inspections in Iran,'' the head of parliament's foreign policy committee, Allaeddin Boroujerdi, said in remarks carried by IRNA.

Reuters