Iran said today it would reject any demand to stop what it calls peaceful nuclear work, a day before European foreign ministers discuss incentives and penalties designed to rein in Tehran's atomic ambitions.
European Union foreign ministers meet tomorrow to work out technical, trade and political sweeteners that would be offered to Iran in exchange for allaying Western fears it is seeking to produce an atom bomb, notably by halting uranium enrichment.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter, insists its nuclear plans are purely to make electricity and says it will not give up enrichment, a process which can used to make fuel for power stations but also material for weapons.
"Any proposal that obliges us to stop peaceful (nuclear) activities would not have value and would not be valid," Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast on state television.
He accused the Europeans of living in a "colonialist world" and said Tehran would not accept decisions reached in Brussels.
"If they want to decide things that concern us in a place where we are not present, then that body does not have any legal validity or credibility in decision-making," Mr Ahmadinejad said.
Washington and its European allies have been seeking to pass a UN Security Council resolution that would oblige Iran to halt all uranium enrichment work or face possible sanctions.
But Russia and China, which have energy interests in Iran, have resisted the move. Washington agreed to let Britain, France and Germany devise a package of benefits for Iran in return for cooperating, putting back a decision on a possible resolution.
A draft statement for tomorrow's EU meeting stated the bloc was ready to help Tehran develop "a safe, sustainable and proliferation-proof civilian nuclear program" while insisting it halt all enrichment on its soil.
EU officials said it was undecided if help could include letting Western firms build nuclear power stations in Iran, an offer sources said was in an earlier package rejected by Iran last August and which also stipulated an end to enrichment. The EU wants the package ready by a meeting on Friday in London of the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany.
The White House today dismissed calls for direct talks with Iran to resolve the stand-off over its nuclear program, saying the United Nations was the best forum for those discussions. "We think the framework we have is even better, we have a number of countries that are engaged with Iran on this issue, we are supportive of those discussions," White House national security adviser Stephen Hadley told CNN.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the United States on Friday to enter into direct talks with Tehran. Mr Ahmadinejad said yesterday he was ready to talk with any country except Israel and not under threat of force.
Western governments say keeping even a small-scale enrichment program at home would enable Iran to master a technology that could quickly be expanded for military purposes in the future if Tehran chose.
Iran argues that its right to enrichment is enshrined in the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treat (NPT), which allows signatories to carry out the whole range of research, development and production activities to produce nuclear energy.