News:
01.06.2006 10:43
Iran govt says ready to talk with US, but won't halt enrichment - UPDATE
(updates with Iran minister's comments, China opposition to Iran sanctions)
TEHRAN (AFX) - Iran is ready to hold talks with the US but rejects the Bush administration's demand that it first suspend its uranium enrichment activities, said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
'We support dialogue in a fair and unbiased atmosphere, but we will not talk about our undeniable and legitimate rights,' Mottaki told reporters.
'We are ready to talk about common concerns and if the conditions are such in a way that we have outlined ... we are ready to negotiate with all parties.'
In what has been regarded as a major policy shift, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice yesterday said Washington was ready to enter the European-led negotiations on Iran's nuclear ambitions if Tehran halted uranium enrichment.
Enrichment can be extended from making civilian reactor fuel to the core of a nuclear weapon. Iran insists its activities are strictly peaceful and therefore enshrined as a 'right' under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
In Beijing, meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao welcomed the US offer to join the Iran talks, but added that it is opposed to 'arbitrary' sanctions.
A senior US official said Wednesday that China and Russia had agreed to return to the UN Security Council to seek sanctions against Iran if international powers failed to reach an accord with Tehran.
But Liu said China is 'not supportive of the arbitrary use of sanctions in international issues'.
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