SENEGAL: Iran says open to "new conditions" over nuclear standoff

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday (September 14) he was open to what he called new conditions to resolve Tehran's standoff with the West over its nuclear programme and believed talks could end the dispute. "We are partisan to dialogue and negotiation and we believe that we can resolve the problems in a context of dialogue and of justice together," Ahmadinejad told a midnight news conference during a visit to Senegal's capital Dakar. "We have many times expressed and announced our position regarding the nuclear issue, and our position has not changed," Ahmadinejad added. Ahmadinejad said Iran was available and ready for new conditions, before leaving to fly to a Non-Aligned summit in Cuba. Ahmadinejad was speaking through a translator. The United States said on Wednesday (September 12) Iran was "aggressively" pursuing the development of nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies. Washington said Iran should face sanctions now, but EU allies said it was not too late for a negotiated solution. Asked whether Iran was willing to suspend uranium enrichment, Ahmadinejad reacted calmly to the U.S. statement. "I don't believe there will be sanctions because there is no reason to have sanctions," he said. The Western countries in a group of six major powers dealing with Iran appeared to differ over the urgency of sanctions in statements to the U.N. nuclear watchdog's board of governors. A minister from Washington's staunchest ally, Britain, said Tehran probably had the resources to endure sanctions. A meeting between European Union foreign policy head Javier Solana and Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani, set for Thursday, was postponed without reasons given. EU diplomats had said they would discuss a tentative offer by Larijani to consider temporarily halting enrichment of uranium for nuclear fuel. Solana's spokeswoman said, however, lower-level EU and Iranian officials would still meet in Paris. The United States, spearheading efforts to draw up punitive U.N. sanctions against Tehran over suspicions it is secretly trying to build atomic bombs, has said it has no knowledge of any new Iranian offer. Western leaders condemned Iran's disregard of an Aug. 31 U.N. Security Council deadline to suspend its uranium enrichment programme, which Tehran says is meant only to make electricity. The Islamic Republic refuses to suspend enrichment before negotiations on an offer by the major powers of trade incentives not to develop nuclear fuel. Washington made clear to the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that Iran's defiance should trigger steps to sanctions but the so-called "EU3", Britain, France and Germany, omitted mention of punitive action and called for last-ditch talks despite Tehran's violation of the deadline.

ITN Source | September 15, 2006

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