Iran's chief nuclear envoy said Tuesday his country wants to negotiate over its uranium enrichment program, on the eve of a U.N. Security Council deadline that carries the threat of harsher sanctions. But the country's hard-line president said Iran will halt enrichment only if Western nations do the same. Sanctions could be triggered by a report from Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency, to his agency's 35 board-member nations, expected Wednesday. That report is expected to say Iran has expanded enrichment activities instead of freezing them.| President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country was ready to stop its enrichment program, but only if Western nations do the same. |
The White House dismissed Ahmadinejad's call. "Do you believe that's a serious offer?" White House press secretary Tony Snow asked. "It's pretty clear that the international community has said to the Iranians, `You can have nuclear power but we don't want you to have the ability to build nuclear weapons.' And that is an offer we continue to make."
Nevertheless, Ahmadinejad's speech was unusually conciliatory, avoiding fiery denunciations of the West. Iran's call for talks — voiced separately on Tuesday by Ahmadinejad, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and
| But the officials did not offer what the Security Council is demanding — an immediate and unconditional stop to enrichment. |
Mottaki, in Turkey, said talks on the nuclear dispute should try to achieve an agreement allowing "Iran to achieve its rights" while eliminating "concerns" about its nuclear ambitions. Larijani, in Vienna, said his country was "looking for ways and means to start negotiations." But the officials did not offer what the Security Council is demanding — an immediate and unconditional stop to enrichment. Iran has long insisted that it will not stop its nuclear activities as a condition for negotiations to start.