Iran says nuclear policy  won't change

TEHRAN - Iran insisted yesterday its nuclear policy would not change when hardline President-Elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad takes office next month.

European diplomats have expressed concern that the former Revolutionary Guardsman will adopt a tougher line than outgoing reformist President Mohammad Khatami, whose government has sought to ease Western fears that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

"Our macro policies are outlined by the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) and the government is obliged to implement them," Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi told ambassadors in Tehran.

"Therefore, some worries about changing those policies are baseless. The new government, like Khatami's government, will follow the same route.

"One of those macro policies is our policy regarding the nuclear issue. Khatami's government has always insisted that the use of peaceful nuclear technology is Iran's obvious right," Kharrazi said.

During the presidential election campaign Ahmadinejad criticized Iranian diplomats for taking a timid stance in nuclear negotiations with the European Union.

Since his landslide election win on June 24 he has said he will continue talks about Iran's nuclear program with the EU. But persistent rumors in official circles suggest that once he takes office a new negotiating team will be put in place.

Iran, which denies US accusations that it wants nuclear technology to make bombs, has frozen sensitive work like uranium enrichment while it tries to reach a deal with the EU over its nuclear program.

Talks between the two sides are due to resume in August.

"We have no other plan but to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes," Kharrazi said. "No power can force us to abandon our legitimate, legal and obvious right to use peaceful nuclear technology."

- REUTERS