Iran Rejects European Proposals

(AP)  Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that he considers "invalid" any European proposals that ask Iran to halt uranium enrichment.

Meanwhile, a Foreign Ministry spokesman downplayed reports that inspectors from the U.N. nuclear watchdog have found traces of highly enriched uranium on equipment from an Iranian research center.

Ahmadinejad asserted that only Iran had the authority to make decisions about its nuclear program.

"They [must] know that any proposal that requires a halt to our peaceful [nuclear] activities will be without any value and invalid," Ahmadinejad said on state-run television after his return from a visit to Indonesia.

European governments are seeking to build on a package of economic and political incentives offered to Iran in August last year in return for a permanent end to its uranium enrichment activities.

Iran rejected last year's offer but the Europeans have tried to sweeten the proposal amid expectations that they will join the United States in urging the United Nations to take steps that could lead to sanctions if Iran refuses.

Several countries, including the United States, accuse Iran of seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says its aims are peaceful and that it was enriching uranium to fuel electricity-generating nuclear power plants.

"Apparently, the gentlemen [Europe and the U.S.] are living in the era of colonialism and give no value to the standing of nations," the president said.

Referring to international pressure, Ahmadinejad said "when we are not present [in the decision-making process] it will be invalid for us."

"They want to offer us things they call incentives in return for renouncing our rights," he said, alluding to opponents of Tehran's nuclear program.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi gave little weight to Friday's reports that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors had found traces of highly enriched uranium.

"It's insignificant. It's not important. Previously, things like this were said but later inspectors arrived at the right conclusions," Asefi told the media Sunday.

The IAEA determined earlier traces of highly enriched uranium were imported on equipment from Pakistan that Iran bought on the black market during nearly two decades of clandestine activity.

The U.S. argues that such reports strengthen suspicion that Tehran wants to develop nuclear arms.

The United States has led calls for the U.N. Security Council to adopt a binding resolution requiring Iran to halt enrichment if Tehran doesn't accept the European proposal.

Among the veto-wielding members of the council, Britain, France and the U.S. favor taking strong measures against Iran, while Russia and China oppose sanctions and want to focus on diplomatic means.
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI