Iran says it will not suspend enrichment despite offer

Iran Focus: Tehran, Iran, May 21 – Iran announced on Sunday that it would not suspend its uranium enrichment activities despite an offer of nuclear assistance from Britain, France, and Germany – the EU-3 – if it did so. Iran Focus

Tehran, Iran, May 21 – Iran announced on Sunday that it would not suspend its uranium enrichment activities despite an offer of nuclear assistance from Britain, France, and Germany – the EU-3 – if it did so.

“We will not return to the past, that is to say, we will not suspend enrichment”, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi told reporters in Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Security Council have both called on Iran to suspend all enrichment activities, fearing that Tehran may be after the A-bomb.

News agencies reported on Saturday that the five permanent members of the Security Council along with Germany were mulling offering Tehran a package of incentives which included the removal of Iran’s nuclear dossier from the council’s agenda, European assistance in building light-water reactors in Iran, and assurance of nuclear fuel supply for some five years if it agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and cooperate with IAEA inspectors.

The draft which could be adopted as legally binding by the Security Council also threatens Iran with sanctions and travel bans on Tehran’s leaders and those involved in the nuclear program.