Iran vows no nuclear climbdown on eve of EU talks

Tehran, Apr 24: Iran's unwavering defiance over its nuclearprogramme has further dampened hopes of a breakthrough at talks withthe European Union tomorrow.

Iran and the EU resume discussions in Turkey with the 27-nationbloc hoping to persuade Tehran to halt sensitive work major powers fearis aimed at making atom bombs, in return for a suspension of sanctionsagainst it.

But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told Reuters in aninterview yesterday the Islamic state would not accept any such''double suspension'' and the government spokesman took a similar linetoday.

''This issue (Iran's nuclear activities) will not go backwards andwe have followed a legal path for the country's progress,'' governmentspokesman Gholamhossein Elham said.

Iran says its programme to make nuclear fuel, which can alsoprovide material for atomic weapons, is aimed at generating electricityso that it can export more of its gas and oil.

Tomorrow's meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solanaand Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani will be their firstface-to-face talks since the United Nations slapped new sanctions onTehran last month.

Solana said yesterday he had decided to make a second attempt tobreak the deadlock because ''I thought the situation has sufficientlymatured to try again'' after his first bid foundered last September onIran's refusal to freeze enrichment.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett, attending the same EUmeeting in Luxembourg, appeared to play down expectations of progressin Ankara.

Asked if she had seen any optimistic signs ahead of the talks between Larijani and Solana, she said: ''Not really''.

Iran Defies Sanctions

The EU ministers passed a regulationimplementing UN measures targeted against individuals and entitiesinvolved in Iran's nuclear and missile programmes, adding a furtherlist of people to the visa ban and assets freeze.

Iran is showing no sign of bowing to such pressure, this monthsaying it had begun industrial-scale uranium enrichment which can beused for making bombs and to produce electricity.

The move drew international condemnation even though Western experts expressed scepticism about Iran's nuclear progress.

Major powers -- the United States, the EU, Russia and China --have offered Tehran a package of economic, civil nuclear and securityincentives if it suspends its most sensitive atom work.

''We have offered them everything that they say they want by wayof access to civil nuclear power, and would like to see them come intonegotiations on that basis,'' Beckett said.

Iranian officials make clear their view that the country's atomicprogramme has passed the point of no return and the West should nowaccept it is a member of the nuclear club.

''Once ... the issue of suspension was discussed but today the situation has changed,'' Larijani told the ISNA news agency.

Reuters>