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LONDON, May 18 (IranMania) - Iran offered greater European access to its economy if its nuclear programme was accepted, the exact opposite of a deal currently being put together by the European Union, AFP reported. "The incentives raised by the Europeans will not replace our rights. They have to recognise our rights," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by the IRNA news agency. "We are ready to propose economic incentives to the Europeans to obtain our rights, and the market of 70 million Iranians is a part of this," Asefi added. The EU-3 of Britain, France...

Iran threatened Friday to end all cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog if the agency refers it to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions over its controversial nuclear program. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Europeans will lose opportunities they currently have in dealing with Iran and will force Tehran to block snap inspections of its nuclear facilities, state-run television reported. "In case Iran is referred to the U.N. Security Council ..., the government will be obliged to end all of its voluntary cooperation," the television quoted Mottaki as saying Friday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iran on Friday took the highly unusual step of running a costly full-page ad in the New York Times defending its nuclear activities and accusing the United States and European allies of creating an "unnecessary crisis." As U.S. and other key officials met in London to discuss efforts to force Tehran to abandon what they believe is a weapons-related program, Iran in its advertisement issued a detailed rebuttal of all charges and said it resumed uranium conversion this week because Britain, France and Germany, under U.S. pressure, violated a 2004 agreement. But Iran also held out the...

When the International Atomic Energy Agency convenes in Vienna later this month, it will be under intense pressure to take action against Irans nuclear program. Since the last IAEA meeting in September, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, his scientists are threatening to produce weapons-grade uranium and Tehrans talks with E.U. representatives on the nuclear issue remain deadlocked. All this has led to international calls for steps to stop Iran going nuclear. The most likely IAEA action will be to refer Iran?s violations of its nuclear commitments to the U.N. Security Council,...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today said the Bush administration was considering opening direct contact with Iran as part of a broader effort to gain greater cooperation from Iraq's neighbors in quelling the insurgency that grips large swaths of the country. "We're considering whether that might be useful," Rice said. She told a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing that any such contact would probably take place between the U.S. and Iranian embassies in Baghdad. Direct US diplomatic contact with Tehran would be highly controversial within the Bush administration, which has long been divided between hardliners who have argued that any...

TEHRAN - In a meeting with President Mahmud Ahmadinejad in Tehran on Tuesday, French Ambassador Bernard Poletti said his country is ready to cooperate with Iran in the production of nuclear electricity. France is aware of Iran's concerns and its demand to access to nuclear technology for the production of nuclear electricity and is prepared to cooperate in this regard, he added. The French ambassador to Tehran also presented a letter from Jacques Chirac to the Iranian president and expressed hope that he would be able to play a constructive role in the promotion of ties between the two countries...

Iran is determined to acquire nuclear weapons and the United States may find it less costly to deter a nuclear-armed Iran than to dismantle its weapons program, according to two U.S.-funded researchers who advise the Pentagon. "Can the United States live with a nuclear-armed Iran? Despite its rhetoric, it may have no choice," concluded the report by Judith Yaphe and Air Force Col. Charles Lutes, which was released on Thursday. The potential for rolling back Iran's program, once it produces a nuclear weapon, "is lower than preventing it in the first place and the costs of rollback may be higher...

TEHRAN (AFX) - Washington is not in a position to go to war against Tehran and its pressure over the Islamic Republic's disputed nuclear programme is nothing more than 'intimidation', Iran's top nuclear negotiator said. 'There will not be a war ahead of us. The situation in America does not allow them to create new fronts,' Ali Larijani was quoted as saying by the student news agency ISNA. 'War with Iran is hard for them, so they want to intimidate us into committing suicide,' he added, referring to Western efforts to make Tehran abandon work on the sensitive nuclear fuel...

PARIS, 8 Oct. (IPS) Iran reacted with a quasi indifference, if not anger, at the nomination of the United Nations International nuclear watchdog and it’s General Director as the winner of the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize for 2005. The Egyptian diplomat Mohamed ElBarade’i and his International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) won the award on Friday, strengthening him and his Vienna-based organisation in efforts of diplomacy rather than confrontation to settle complicated problems concerning nuclear non proliferation. “The West has awarded Mohammad ElBaradade’i and his Agency for the good services he has offered it by taking the Iranian nuclear issue as...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior hardline Iranian cleric said on Friday Iran was strong enough to withstand possible sanctions over its nuclear ambitions, as thousands rallied in support of the country's right to a peaceful atomic programme. Officials declined to comment on the award on Friday of the Nobel Peace Prize to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its head Mohamed ElBaradei. But a source close to the government said awarding the prize to the body that had been investigating Iran's nuclear programme for three years was a "political move directed at Iran." The head of the powerful Guardian...

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran threatened on Monday to use its "full might" to endanger U.S. interests if Washington upped the pressure on Tehran over its disputed nuclear program. Washington and the European Union have prepared the ground for the governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send Iran to the U.N. Security Council next month for possible sanctions for violating international nuclear obligations. The United States and its European allies argue Iran is making atomic fuel for use in weapons, but Tehran says its nuclear program is dedicated solely to generating electricity. Ali Larijani, secretary-general of Supreme...

QUESTION: What's your reaction to the protests in Iran around the British Embassy? This is a reaction to the IAEA vote, I presume, were there to be a U.S. embassy, they would be protesting there. MR. MCCORMACK: Right. Well, I'll leave it to those on the ground to describe the protests there and who might be organizing those protests. The position where Iran finds itself right now, I think, is one that is probably a surprise to them after the IAEA Board of Governors vote. And where they find themselves is more isolated from the international community than when they...

TEHERAN - Iran's reformist opposition criticized the nation's nuclear policies as it may bring Iran before the United Nations Security Council and lead to sanctions, ILNA news agency reported on Monday. The spokesman for the MJM faction, Rassoul Montajabnia, told ILNA that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government had made a political mistake by skipping the Europeans in favour of members of the Non-Aligned Movement. The new Iranian administration has decided to increase nuclear negotiations with the NAM member states as well as Russia and China and sever talks with the European Union trio Britain, France and Germany, the main negotiating partners...

Is Iran next? As the United States and Europe huff and puff about the country's nuclear ambitions and threaten to report it to the UN security council, we might be forgiven for experiencing a sense of deja vu. But is Iran really on the brink of developing a nuclear weapons programme, or is it simply bluffing and sabre-rattling? We can hazard a guess, but the fact is that we simply don't know. Confronted with cases like these, lawyers tend to take refuge in the canons of international law and journalists tend to flatter themselves that everything can be traced to...

As the drumbeat of war gets louder in Tehran it is, perhaps, time to wonder whether President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s new administration is not walking into a trap partly of its own making. Over the past week or so Iranian officials at various levels have made a number of statements that could harm Iran’s interests at a difficult time. Many had hoped that Ahmadinejad would use the opportunity provided by his presence at the UN General Assembly in New York to offer a way out of the diplomatic impasse over Iran’s alleged nuclear ambitions. But that didn’t happen. Ahmadinejad’s speeches and...

TEHRAN (AFX) - The head of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards warned that the imposition of sanctions on the Islamic republic over its nuclear programme could push the price of oil to 100 usd a barrel. 'Any sanction against Iran can make the oil price reach 100 dollars a barrel,' General Yahya Rahim Safavi said in a speech to worshippers attending Friday prayers in Tehran. Iran is OPEC's second producer. 'Any economic and political pressure on Iran from any power ... will result in a harsh reaction from Iran,' he added. The Islamic republic 'has a solid and unbeatable defence potential...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice believes U.S. and European diplomatic efforts will soon bear fruit in the form of international pressure on Iran to desist from its nuclear program. In a wide-ranging interview with TIME on Monday, the secretary of state indicated that Washington is confident of carrying the support of a majority of the 35 members of the board governing the International Atomic Energy Agency for a resolution to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its failure to disclose numerous aspects of its nuclear program. Still, Rice noted, U.S. and European representatives at the IAEA board meeting...

Britain will lead a drive to have Iran referred to the UN security council, with the possibility of sanctions being imposed if the newly elected hardline president does not stop uranium enrichment or restart negotiations with Europe and America. Reflecting the level of concern about Iran's intentions, foreign secretary Jack Straw was due to meet President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday on the sidelines of the United Nations summit to try to resolve the stand-off. Mr Straw was making a joint approach with French prime minister Dominique de Villepin and German foreign minister Joschka Fischer. The Europeans have been pursuing the diplomatic...

Iran on Sunday rejected what it termed conditional negotiations with Europe over Tehran's nuclear program and said it wanted instead to have talks with the UN nuclear watchdog agency. FM spokesman 'Asefi' said any future nuclear negotiations would not include the USA, which contends Iran wants to build atomic weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is solely to produce electricity. "Since EU has demanded conditional negotiations, Iran will not accept that and negotiations won't be held," Asefi told reporters. "We are interested in negotiations and working with the IAEA, as our partner." Earlier this week Britain's Foreign Office said there...

The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday warned Western countries not to use force in the standoff with Iran over its nuclear program, insisting purely diplomatic means be pursued. "The use of force in Iran is a counterproductive and dangerous option fraught with unpredictable consequences," ministry spokesman Mikhail Kamynin said in a statement. Iran earlier this month ended a voluntary freeze on uranium enrichment it had agreed to as part of negotiations with European countries.