An Iranian official said yesterday that the country's leadership was
determined to refuse the West's request for a halt of sensitive nuclear
activities, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
"The West has raised two preconditions in a proposal -- freezing nuclear
activities and responding to questions raised by the Board of Governors of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," Abdolreza Rahmani-Fazli, deputy
secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted as saying.
"But our leadership has been determined that they would not accept the
demands," he said.
The remarks were seen as an explicit rejection of the West's demands on
Iran's nuclear program for the first time.
On June 6, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented Iran with a
package agreed on by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus
Germany concerning the Iranian nuclear issue.
The proposal includes both incentives aimed at persuading Iran to suspend
uranium enrichment and possible sanctions if Iran does not comply.
Western countries have been pressing Tehran to respond to the six-nation
package before Saturday, but Iran has rejected the request.
The six countries agreed on Wednesday to return Iran's nuclear issue to the
UN Security Council.
The move drew a strong reaction from the Iranian government. President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned on Thursday that his country would revise cooperation
with IAEA and may quit the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the West is not
sincere on the nuclear issue. Enditem
Related: Putin rejects sanctions against Iran over nuke issue
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, July 15 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir
Putin refused on Saturday in St. Petersburg to agree with the United States to
pose sanctions against Iran over the Iranian nuclear issue.
Putin sent the message after he held talks with visiting U.S. President
George W. Bush.
Speaking at the press conference after the talks, Bush said the two leaders
"sent a clear message to Iran" that Iran should not possess nuclear weapons.
Bush also said he supports Russia's initiative of setting up an international
nuclear enrichment center in resolving the nuclear issue.
However, Bush shunned the issue of sanctions against Iran, saying that "this
is the first time" he talked with Putin over the issue.
Putin, on his part, said a "balanced" approach should be explored in
resolving this issue.