/ 1 June 2006

Minister: Iran will not negotiate with US

Iran will never negotiate its nuclear programme with the United States, its oil minister said in a television interview while in Venezuela for an Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) meeting.

”We are never going to negotiate the nuclear fuel cycle, which we were able to obtain through the efforts of our country’s scientists,” Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh told Telesur late on Wednesday.

The Iranian minister downplayed a US offer to join direct talks with Iran if Tehran halts uranium-enrichment activities. Kazem called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s announcement, which marks a major US policy shift, ”words that US officials always repeat”.

”To underscore our commitment to a diplomatic solution and to enhance the prospects for success, as soon as Iran fully and verifiably suspends its enrichment and reprocessing activities, the US will come to the table with our EU colleagues and meet with Iran’s representatives,” Rice said in Washington on Wednesday.

Vaziri-Hamaneh said reports by international inspectors that Iran’s nuclear programme shows no sign of being diverted for military applications are the ”best guarantee” of the peaceful nature of the programme.

Soaring oil prices were due to the ”constant threats of the US” against Iran, he said.

Ministers of the 11-nation Opec met in the Venezuelan capital on Thursday, a day after the US issued its historic offer to hold direct talks with Iran over Tehran’s nuclear plans.

The offer took the sting out of oil prices, with markets already reassured about Opec’s intentions to keep output levels steady.

The oil market has been convulsed for weeks by the threat of UN sanctions against Iran, which after Saudi Arabia is the second-biggest oil exporter in Opec.

However, Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki already rejected the condition placed by the US saying, ”We support dialogue in a fair and unbiased atmosphere, but we will not talk about our undeniable and legitimate rights, because this is the right of our people according to international laws and treaties.” — AFP

 

AFP