Iran says has no plan to quit the NPT - agency

TEHRAN, Jan 9 (Reuters) Iran has no intention of quitting the international treaty aimed at restricting the spread of atomic weapons, chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted as saying today.

Larijani said his country may alter its level of cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if it continues to be put under pressure over its nuclear programmes, but will not drop the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

''We do not insist on quitting the NPT ... There are various methods to revise the cooperation level,'' the official IRNA news agency quoted Larijani as saying.

In reaction to a UN sanctions resolution passed on December 23, Iran's parliament passed a bill obliging the government to revise its cooperation level with the UN's International Atomic energy Agency (IAEA), and to accelerate its nuclear work.

The bill, passed last month, gave a free hand to president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government to decide whether it wanted to pull out of the NPT if pressured.

Larijani also repeated Iran's call for talks to resolve the nuclear dispute with the West, which believes Tehran wants to build nuclear warheads despite Iran's insistence that it wants to make fuel to generate electricity.

''We think that returning to talks is the best way to resolve the nuclear issue,'' he said, adding that ''Iran will stick to its atomic work as a national cause.'' Open criticism of the handling of nuclear issue is unusual because it is considered a matter of national security, but Ahmadinejad's nuclear policies have been criticised in the country since the resolution was passed.

A group of reformist parliamentarians has criticised Ahmadinejad for letting Iran's case be sent to the UN Security Council to face possible sanctions.

Iran's main pro-reform party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has also called for a review of the nuclear policy, saying in an statement on Saturday that the government should refrain from what it described as ''adventurous'' policies.

Some hardline dailies have also become critical of nuclear policies of Ahmadinejad, who has called the resolution ''a piece of torn paper''.

''You (Ahmadinejad) use such an aggressive tone that sounds so stubborn to listeners ... while the nature of our atomic motion is prudent,'' said the hardline Jomhuri-ye Eslami newspaper's editorial today.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, not the president, has the final say in state policy. But analysts and diplomats say Ahmadinejad seems to be trying to -- and to some extent succeeding in -- toughening Iran's line with fiery speeches.

REUTERS BDP BD2209