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Iran says will never give up nuclear programme |
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Tuesday, 19 October 2004 |
Reuters
 TEHRAN - Iran said it would reject any EU proposal if it limited its right to carry out a complete nuclear fuel cycle, state television reported on Tuesday.
Gholamreza Aghazadeh, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, said Iran was determined to press ahead with its atomic programme.
"We will review the European's proposal only if it respects Iran's right (of mastering the fuel cycle)," Aghazadeh told state television.
Aghazadeh said Iran had no intention of pursuing nuclear weapons. "Using nuclear technology for non-peaceful purposes is not in our agenda," he said.
Britain, Germany and France are expected to present a proposal to Iran this week aimed at persuading Tehran to abandon its pursuit of uranium enrichment.
The United states and some other countries accuse Iran of pursuing nuclear arms under cover of a civilian atomic programme.
Iran insists its nuclear facilities will be used only to generate electricity. It says that as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has the right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has urged Iran to stop its uranium enrichment programme and threatened to take Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible economic sanctions at its November meeting if Tehran continued to defy the call.
Aghazadeh said Iran's dossier was not removed from the IAEA's agenda due to political reasons.
"There is no legal or technical justification for Iran's case to be referred to the Council," Aghazadeh said.
Iran last year promised Britain, Germany and France it would freeze all enrichment-related activities, but it has begun processing raw uranium to prepare it for enrichment, a process that can be used to make a nuclear bomb. |
