Iran Willing To Talk About Nuke Plans

(CBS/AP)  Iran said Sunday that it was still willing to negotiate with the international community over its nuclear program and dismissed its referral by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to the Security Council.

However, Iran announced it will end all voluntary cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

"The door for negotiations is still open," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a morning press conference. "We don't fear the Security Council. It's not the end of the world."

Iran said it will hold talks with Moscow on a proposal to enrich uranium in Russia, a day after a senior Iranian official had declared the proposal dead.

"The situation has changed. Still, we will attend talks with Russia on February 16," Asefi said.

Yet at a conference of defense officials in Munich, Germany, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said, "We've always said we're against any country in the world to develop nuclear weapons. We're sticking to that."

On Saturday, Javad Vaeidi, deputy head of the powerful National Security Council, declared the Russian proposal dead after the U.N. nuclear watchdog reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council.

"The proposal has to conform itself with the new circumstances," Asefi said Sunday.

"The Iranian government is ratcheting up the rhetoric, but the reversal on the Russian proposal is a crack in the armor," said CBS News Foreign Affairs analyst Pamela Falk. "Diplomacy is the art of giving face-saving solution to all parties and the month delay may help find a solution to the standoff."

The International Atomic Energy Agency on Saturday reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council on Saturday over fears it wants to produce nuclear arms. Iran responded by saying it would no longer allow intrusive IAEA inspections of its facilities and restart full-scale work on uranium enrichment.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad mocked the IAEA referral.

"Issue as many resolutions like this as you want and make yourself happy. You can't prevent the progress of the Iranian nation," he said in comments carried by the official Islamic Republic News Agency.

"In the name of the IAEA they want to visit all our nuclear facilities and learn our defense capabilities, but we won't allow them to do this," Ahmadinejad said.

In the past, Iran had allowed short-notice, intrusive inspections of its facilities, including military sites.

But parliament passed a law late last year requiring the government to block intrusive inspections of Iran's facilities if the country is put before the Security Council. It also required the government to resume all suspended nuclear activities, chief among them, uranium enrichment.

Asefi reiterated that Iran would cooperate with the IAEA within the framework of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the Safeguard Agreement.

"We chose our way wisely. We have solutions for all situations that may develop. Referring Iran to the Security Council will definitely harm the other party more than Iran," Asefi said.

The IAEA's decision sets the stage for future action by the top U.N. body that could include economic and political sanctions.

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CBS News Correspondent Sheila MacVicar answers questions about the escalating tensions with Iran over its nuclear intentions.

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In a statement Saturday, President Bush said that the vote "sends a clear message to the regime in Iran that the world will not permit the Iranian regime to gain nuclear weapons."

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