Voice of America: Iran says it will reject any proposal to end its work on uranium enrichment, a process that could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Hossein Mousavian, a senior Iranian official involved in the nuclear negotiations, has told state television his country will not accept any plan that requires it to drop what he calls “its legitimate right” to enrich uranium to make fuel.
Iran Refuses to Stop Uranium Enrichment
Iran rejects any deal to end uranium enrichment
Reuters: Iran says it will reject any proposal to halt uranium enrichment, a step European Union diplomats are proposing to end a row over whether Iran is seeking atomic weapons.
EU diplomats have said they are seeking U.S. and Russian support for a deal that would ask Iran to give up uranium enrichment in return for technical and economic assistance.
US-Iraqi sweep south of Baghdad nets Syrian, Iranian rebels: national guard
AFP: An operation by US and Iraqi forces south of Baghdad
has netted two Syrian “terrorists” and an unknown number of Iranians, an official from Iraq’s national guard said on Friday. US-led forces, Iraqi police and national guardsmen conducted the two-day sweep in a belt of farming towns — Mahmudiyah, Latifiyah and Iskandariyah — known as the triangle of death …
Iran will not agree to cease nuclear work: official
AFP: Iran will reject any European proposal for a complete cessation of its work on the nuclear fuel cycle, but is willing to consider further “confidence-building” measures and extending a suspension of uranium enrichment, a top Iranian official told AFP Saturday.
US stands firm on Iran nuclear demands as G8 envoys discuss possible incentives
AFP: Envoys from the Group of Eight industrialized nations met here Friday to discuss ways of making Iran give up its alleged nuclear weapons program but reached no decisions on a European proposal to offer Tehran incentives to do so, a
senior US official said.
Europe to offer Iran nuke deal
Reuters: European powers will offer Iran a deal next week in a final bid to persuade the Islamic republic to end its suspected arms-related nuclear programmes or face possible sanctions, the United States says. The announcement on Friday came after a meeting of the Group of Eight industrial powers in Washington where Britain, France and Germany presented a package of “carrots and sticks” …
U.S., EU at odds over Tehran’s nuclear program
The Washington Times: The Bush administration yesterday refused to back away from its demand that Iran be referred to the U.N. Security Council over its nuclear program next month, even as European allies said they will offer Tehran a deal next week.
U.S. agrees to Iran deal proposed by its allies
New York Times: The United States reached an informal agreement Friday to let Britain, France and Germany offer a deal to Iran next week in which Tehran would immediately suspend its nuclear fuel enrichment program in return for a discussion on future economic benefits and other incentives, European diplomats said.
Europeans to Press Iran on Nuclear Plans
Washington Post: The United States yesterday effectively and reluctantly agreed to allow three European nations to launch a final diplomatic initiative aimed at persuading Iran to accept a plan that would block it from developing a nuclear weapon,
U.S. and European officials said.
EU trio seeks US backing for Iran nuclear deal
The Guardian: Senior US and European officials were locked
in last-ditch negotiations in Washington last night to defuse
the crisis over Iran’s suspected nuclear weapons programme.
Ahead of a crucial meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna next month, the EU troika of Britain, France and Germany has drawn up a package of sweeteners in the hope of persuading Tehran to abandon its advanced uranium enrichment programme.
