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VIENNA - Iran vowed today to press on with its nuclear fuel programme, ignoring a UN deadline to freeze uranium enrichment or face broader sanctions, but offered to guarantee it would not try to develop atomic weapons.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained defiant as a 60-day grace period Iran had been given on December 23 to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel was expiring.
"We ... will continue our work to reach our right (to nuclear technology) in the shortest possible time," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the INSA student news agency in the town of Siahkal.
The West suspects Iran is trying to make atom bombs behind the facade of a civilian nuclear energy programme. Tehran says it wants only an alternative source of electricity so it can maximise oil exports and prepare for when oil reserves run dry.
With the deadline running out, the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency was expected to report to the UN Security Council on Thursday Iran was pursuing enrichment regardless of pressure to stop.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana are expected to meet in Berlin on Thursday to discuss Iran.
"Obtaining this technology is very important for our country's development and honour," said Ahmadinejad. "It is worth it to stop other activities for 10 years and focus only on the nuclear issue."
Ultimate authority on nuclear matters lies not with Ahmadinejad but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But senior Iranian leaders have all ruled out halting nuclear work as a precondition for talks on trade benefits from the West.
The Council, which two months ago banned transfers of nuclear technology and expertise to Iran, would consider wider sanctions -- such as a travel ban on Iranians linked to nuclear activity -- if Tehran had not frozen enrichment work by February 21.
Rice said the result was already clear. "The Iranians have unfortunately not acceded to the international community's demands and we will have to consult. We will have to decide how to move forward," she told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday.
Top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani said after talks on Tuesday with IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei Tehran would give necessary assurances during negotiations that it would never divert enrichment into bomb-making.
'Dangerous situation'
Prime Minister Tony Blair said Iran appeared bent on acquiring nuclear arms despite sending out conflicting signals in reply to sanctions and a US military build-up in the Gulf.
"The statements emanating from Iran are contradictory, but ... their nuclear weapons ambitions appear to continue," Blair told parliament in London. "We need to keep up the pressure because it's a very, very dangerous situation."
Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Khamenei, told the French daily Le Monde Larijani's message to ElBaradei was that Iran was flexible on formulas for a negotiated deal "but one cannot dictate the solution in advance".
Asked if Iran could consider a temporary enrichment halt, Velayati said: "Mr Larijani is open to all proposals, bar none."
In Istanbul, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in response to a question about the US military build-up: "Two options were on the table at first -- violence or cooperation. We are ready for both options but we always prefer cooperation. The solution is through diplomatic negotiations."
Iran's central bank governor said Tehran held less than 30 per cent of its reserves in dollars and would continue to cut holdings in the US currency to the "minimum level" needed to meet payment commitments.
Western officials have dismissed previous signs of Iranian flexibility as stalling while it strives to master enrichment technology at its underground Natanz complex. Its perimeter is ringed by anti-aircraft guns against feared US assault.
Two prominent Iranian reform parties urged the government to accept an enrichment halt to preserve what they called a higher national interest, a reference to avoiding diplomatic isolation that could cripple the economy.
ElBaradei has urged both sides to take a mutual "timeout" to enable talks -- Iran would suspend enrichment rather than accelerate it from research level to "industrial scale" as planned at Natanz, while sanctions would be suspended.
In urging talks, ElBaradei has said Iran remains 4-8 years away from atom bomb capability, assuming it wanted this.
- REUTERS
