Iran to set new N-talks terms

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Iran is ready to resume stalled nuclear talks with major powers if conditions Tehran will announce soon are met, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said a week after the country was hit by new UN sanctions.
Mr Ahmadinejad made clear on Wednesday that Iran’s “nuclear path” would not be negotiable in any discussions, highlighting Tehran’s defiance despite growing international pressure over atomic activities the West suspects are aimed at making bombs.
In a sign of the Islamic state’s anger at the June 9 vote by the UN Security Council to impose a fourth round of punitive measures against the oil producer, he warned the country could “react firmly” when its rights were violated.
Iran’s determination to press ahead with nuclear work it says is mainly aimed at generating power was underlined by an official announcing plans to build more research reactors.
The government said in February it had launched higher-grade uranium enrichment to provide fuel for its existing medical research reactor in Tehran, sparking alarm in the West because it brought it closer to the level needed for a bomb.
In tandem with moves to tighten restrictions on Iran, the United States and European Union have also increased efforts to engage with Tehran and try to get it back to negotiations.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton — with the backing of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia — is hoping to meet Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in the weeks ahead to see if any progress can be made. Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran was in favour of talks but “you have made your move and it is now our turn to make a move to force you to behave” in any future dialogue. “If they think they can use sticks to pressure Iran, we say that the Iranian nation will break all of their sticks,” he said in a televised speech in the western city of Shahr-e Kord.
Iran, the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, says its nuclear programme is a peaceful bid to produce electricity. But its refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a process which can have both civilian and military uses, has drawn four rounds of UN sanctions as well as separate US measures.