Iran Won’t Halt Uranium Enrichment

Iran said Saturday that it would reject any proposal to stop it from enriching uranium, a step European diplomats are urging as part of a plan to end an international dispute over whether Iran is trying to build nuclear weapons.

European Union 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. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel nuclear reactors or in nuclear weapons.

“Any proposal that deprives Iran of its legitimate right to a fuel cycle is not acceptable,” Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s head of foreign policy on the Supreme National Security Council, told state television.

However, he said he was not responding to a specific offer.

“We have not yet received the text of the proposal and have to see what it contains to assess it,” he said.

Oil-rich Iran denies accusations from Washington that it has military nuclear ambitions and argues its atomic program is dedicated solely to meeting booming demand for electricity.

EU diplomats have said Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani, will visit Europe in the next two weeks as part of Iran’s diplomatic effort to avoid having the issue sent to the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Tehran.