Iran says it welcomes dialogue

Iran welcomes a constructive dialogue with world powers over its nuclear program, but insists that it won’t halt its uranium enrichment activities, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday.

The report was in response to an invitation from the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia for a new round of nuclear talks. No date has been set.

Iran “welcomes constructive and fair talks based on mutual respect,” IRNA quoted an official government statement as saying. Iran “believes that the existing problems in the international arena need to be resolved through dialogue.”

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of secretly seeking to develop atomic weapons. But Iran denies the allegation, saying its nuclear program is geared toward electricity generation, not bombs.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that Iran was preparing a new package of proposals aimed at resolving the dispute with the West over his country’s nuclear program and said Tehran was willing to build a new relationship with the United States.

The U.S. and the five other countries are discussing possible new strategies for dealing with Iran that reportedly involve allowing Iran to continue enriching uranium at its current level for an as-yet undetermined period.

That position was endorsed two years ago by Washington and its negotiating partners, which told Tehran that they could accept a continuation of enrichment for a limited time as they moved toward talks. But Iran insisted that it be allowed to enrich as part of its rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The Obama administration has said U.S. representatives will attend the talks. The Bush administration refused to participate other than sending an observer to one session last year.

Iran has repeatedly said it will never give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel.