Karaj, 29 Sept. (AKI) - Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Friday Iran will not abide by international calls and halt sensitive nuclear work "even for a few minutes." Speaking in Karaj, 40 kilometres west of Teheran, the president said:"My government is determined to continue pursuing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes." Ahmadinejad spoke one day after a meeting between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani did not lead to an agreement on uranium enrichment suspension - though the two parties said they had "come to some positive conclusion."
"Even if they ask for a one-day halt (of uranium enrichment), our answer would be, we won't do it," Ahmadinejad told thousands of people gatherd in Karaj.
| We believe you. Apparently the EU is hard of hearing |
The Iranian president added that "the US and its allies wanted Iran to suspend enrichment in order to force a permanent halt, because they were opposed to any progress in the Islamic world." "Europeans have asked Iran to suspend enrichment during negotiations, citing technical problems, but we rejected their demand," he also said.
The five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain - plus German, also involved in talks on Iran's nuclear programme, have offered Iran a package of incentives in return for a suspension of uranium enrichment. Tehran however refused the offer presented on 6 June by Solana and later ignored a UN 31 August deadline threatening it with sanctions if it did not stop enriching uranium. |