IRAN: Iran's president insisted on his country's right to nuclear technology yesterday despite facing what Washington called a "moment of truth" over a programme that could produce atomic weapons.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's comments suggested Tehran may have already decided to reject offers of incentives and negotiations from six of the world's top powers in return for ending atomic fuel activities.
"Pressure of some western countries to force Iran to abandon its right [ to nuclear technology] will not get a result," Iranian news agency IRNA quoted Mr Ahmadinejad as saying.
Although Mr Ahmadinejad did not mention uranium enrichment, Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said Iran's plans included such sensitive work.
"Iran is determined to go ahead with its nuclear enrichment work for peaceful purposes," he told student news agency ISNA.
But US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice still held out the possibility she would meet Iranian officials. "It depends of course on what Iran does," she told National Public Radio in one of a series of interviews. Washington says Iran must stop atomic fuel work before any talks.
"If Iran is prepared to verifiably suspend its programme and enter into negotiations, then we'll determine the level [ of representation] but I wouldn't be at all surprised if the ministers meet at some point," she said.
Iran was facing a "moment of truth", she told CBS.
The White House said Mr Ahmadinejad's remarks were just a "negotiating position" and urged Iran to study a basket of incentives, approved by US, British, French, German, Russian and Chinese foreign ministers at a Vienna meeting on Thursday, before officially responding.
European officials will give Iranian officials a detailed presentation of the incentives in the next couple of days and a formal answer was hoped for within weeks, White House spokesman Tony Snow said.
Russian president Vladimir Putin said yesterday it was too early to speak about sanctions against Iran.
"As far as sanctions are concerned, we think it is a bit too early at the moment to talk about that," Mr Putin said at a meeting with the chiefs of international news agencies in Moscow.
But Ms Rice said Moscow and Beijing had signed up in Vienna to two "quite robust" paths - one leading Iran to international integration with incentives and another towards isolation via various penalties. "Russia and China have signed on to the two paths," she told CNN.
An EU diplomat said Russia and China had agreed not to block any UN sanctions against Tehran, but could opt out of particular punitive measures.
"There is something like a catalogue of sanctions and we can pick and choose from them. The agreement reached . . . is also that Russia and China can abstain from any sanctions, but not say no," the diplomat said.