CNN: Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer [View All]

[allemand]

Sunday, January 1, 2006 Posted: 2155 GMT (0555 HKT)

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Iran's chief nuclear negotiator has rejected a Russian offer to produce nuclear fuel in its plants for Iran, the latest effort to resolve a diplomatic impasse over Tehran's nuclear program.

Speaking on state-run television Sunday, Ali Larijani argued the offer would deny his nation's right to "be in charge of its own fate" on energy matters.

He said Iran would be willing to have some, but not all, of its nuclear fuel produced outside the country.

Iran's hard-line conservative government insists it has the right to restart nuclear facilities and enrich uranium for the production of nuclear energy, despite fears by some other nations --including the United States -- that Tehran's true goal is to produce nuclear weapons.

More:
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/01/iran.nuclear/

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Russian nuclear proposal has 'serious problems': Iran

TEHRAN (AFP) - A senior Iranian official dismissed a proposal for Iran to enrich uranium on Russian soil as problematic and expressed disappointment in Europe's latest negotiations over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear program.

"It is an idea, not a structured proposal, we don't see it as mature and it has serious problems," the secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, said on national television.
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Larijani warned the West, which has threatened to push for the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctions, about taking strong action.

"If they act harshly, our behaviour will change. We have prepared scenarios and they cannot checkmate us easily," he said.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060101/ts_afp/irannuclearrussiaeu_060101220548