Iran says it won't give up nuclear technology
Bush: Nuclear-armed Iran would be 'very destabilizing force'
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Mohammad Khatami vowed Wednesday that no Iranian government would ever abandon the progress that the country has made in developing peaceful nuclear technology.
The comment did not augur well for negotiations with the big three European powers who are currently trying to persuade Iran to cease permanently the enrichment of uranium.
Khatami warned that if the talks with Britain, France and Germany fail, his government will not be bound by its undertaking to suspend enrichment.
"If other parties [to the negotiations] are not committed to their promises, we will not be committed to our promises at all," Khatami told a meeting of foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Europeans have promised Iran economic and technological aid in return for cooperation on the nuclear issue.
Khatami then went further and warned of a course of action that would reach far: "If we feel you [Europeans] do not fulfill your promises, we will adopt a new policy, and the responsibility of its huge consequences will lie with those who broke their promises," he said. He did not say more about this policy.
Uranium enriched to low levels can be used for fuel for nuclear power stations. Enriched to high levels it is used for atomic bombs. Iran says it seeks enriched uranium only for power stations, but the United States believes it wants to build nuclear weapons.
"Neither my government, nor any other [Iranian] government can give a convincing reply to people [who seek our] giving up peaceful nuclear technology," said Khatami, whose second and final presidential term ends later this year.
"Iran has achieved nuclear technology without the help of others, and it will never give up its right [to use it] under illegitimate pressure from others," Khatami said.
Khatami drew attention to opinion polls that show most Iranians want the country to continue with its nuclear development.
The nuclear program is perhaps the only issue that all sides of the political spectrum agree on in Iran. The program is a point of national pride.
Khatami reiterated that Iran would never make nuclear weapons. He said the country was a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and had reaffirmed its commitment to the peaceful use of nuclear power in November.
The United States says it supports the European negotiations with Iran, but U.S. officials say privately they expect them to fail. The United States has long wanted the International Atomic Energy Agency to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions on the country.
In Belgium on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Iran must live up to its international obligations to halt its nuclear program or "the next steps are in the offing." (Full story)
In Washington, U.S. President Bush said Wednesday, "The Iranians just need to know that the free world is working together to send a very clear message. You know, 'Don't develop a nuclear weapon.'
"And the reason we're sending that message is because Iran with a nuclear weapon would be a very destabilizing force in the world."
Bush has refused to rule out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities, but German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said Wednesday that his country could not support such action.
"We want to help Iran. We want economic cooperation. But we want no military intervention," Schroeder said to applause at a meeting of his Social Democratic Party in Cologne.
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said today that his country will never give up its nuclear development process.

Talking to foreign ambassadors in Tehran, he said, "We give our guarantee that we will not produce nuclear weapons because we're against them and do not believe they are a source of power, but we will not give up peaceful nuclear technology."

"Iran has achieved nuclear technology without the help of others, and it will never give up its right to use it under illegitimate pressure from others," Khatami said.

His remarks come as Iran faces increasing pressure to curb its nuclear activities. The United States and the European Union wants the country to give up enriching uranium, a key process in both nuclear power generation and weapons production. Iran claims to have suspended such enrichment—President Khatmi said that enrichment is "our clear right" but that Iran had suspended it only "to show our goodwill". The EU wants a permanent cessation.

Khatami also denounced, "the slanders of the American rulers against the Iranian nation and the establishment", saying they were aimed at "putting a cover on the failures of the extremist US policy".

Newly-appointed U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said while touring Europe this week that diplomacy with Iran must be given every chance to succeed, adding that no deadline had been set to take the issue to the UN Security Council.