Iran rejects enrichment halt as Solana visits

"If the package (from six major powers) includes suspension it is not debatable at all," government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham was quoted as saying to reporters in Tehran.

Javier Solana was on Saturday to present defiant Iranian leaders with a new deal from world powers offering Tehran trade incentives in exchange for a suspension of uranium enrichment activities. 

"Iran's stance is clear. The precondition of a halt and suspension of nuclear activities cannot be brought up," Elham said, adding Iran will make its decision on the package "after a precise examination."

The European Union's foreign policy chief arrived in Tehran on Friday to outline the offer agreed in May by the United States, China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany in the latest bid to end a stand-off over Iran's atomic ambitions.

The package, including civilian nuclear cooperation, is a revised version of one rejected by Iran two years ago and diplomats have played down any hopes of a breakthrough soon.

The world's fourth-largest oil producer has repeatedly refused stopping activities it says are for generating electricity but which Western powers suspect are aimed at making bombs.

The incentives package, hammered out by the six major powers in May, is an updated and enhanced version of an offer spurned by Iran in 2006 that also included wider trade in civil aircraft, energy, high technology and agriculture.

Iran's refusal to stop enrichment, which can provide fuel for power plants or material for bombs if refined much more, has drawn three rounds of U.N. sanctions since 2006.Â

 

Photo: AFP