Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said yesterday that Iran would
reject a deal with the European Union which plans to offer incentives in
exchange for Iran's halting uranium enrichment.
"They (EU countries) say that they want to give us incentives. They think
that they can take away our gold and give us some nuts and chocolate in
exchange," said Ahmadinejad.
"We don't need incentives. There is no need to give us incentives. Just don't
try to wrong us," he stressed.
The hardline president also said that Iran would categorically reject
international demands for Tehran to return to a suspension of sensitive uranium
enrichment work.
Ahmadinejad made the remarks at a rally in Arak, the capital city of Markazi
province, southwest of Tehran. His speech was broadcast live on state
television.
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Tuesday that
Iran was open to any proposal to resolve the nuclear issue as long as its "legal
and inalienable rights" to pursue nuclear energy under the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) were recognized, the official IRNA news agency
reported on Wednesday.