Iran scoffs at EU incentives

Tehran: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday ruled out any idea of halting nuclear fuel work in return for European Union incentives, saying the Europeans were offering "candy for gold".

Britain, France and Germany, EU's three biggest powers, plan to offer Iran a light-water reactor as part of a package to induce Tehran to freeze a uranium enrichment programme that the West suspects has military dimensions.

"They say we want to give Iranians incentives but they think they are dealing with a four-year-old, telling him they will give him candies or walnuts and take gold from him in return," Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the central city of Arak.

Arak is the site of a heavy-water nuclear reactor that Iran is building despite opposition from Western countries concerned that the plant's plutonium by-product could be used in warheads.

Warnings

"Iran will not accept any suspension or freeze (of nuclear work)," Ahmadinejad said in a speech that was televised live.

"We trusted you three years ago and accepted suspension but unfortunately this proved to be a bitter experience in Iranian history. We will not be bitten by the same snake twice."

Ahmadinejad warned that pressure on Iran over its nuclear programme could produce adverse reactions. "Don't force governments and nations which are signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to pull out of it," he said.

The permanent five members of the UN Security Council and Germany have delayed a meeting on Iran scheduled for this week to allow more time to prepare the EU proposal, a British Foreign Office spokesman said.

The United States has taken a wary approach.

"The package has not yet been agreed," US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told Reuters. "It is under development and we'll be meeting probably next week in Europe to look at it. I'll be going over to London for conversations."

An EU diplomat familiar with the negotiations on Iran on Tuesday said the EU3 and Solana were planning to offer Tehran a European light-water reactor if it suspended enrichment.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov urged Iran to respond constructively to proposals to break the nuclear impasse.

EU diplomats said the new offer would be more specific, partly because they were confident of US support.