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EU3-plus-three meeting on Iran postponed

Iran Materials 18 May 2006 14:47 (UTC +04:00)

(Itar-Tass) - A meeting of officials from Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States to be held in London to discuss Irans nuclear programme has been postponed, diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

The meeting will take place in the British capital next Tuesday or Wednesday, the sources said, reports Trend.

The EU3-plus-three political director meeting has been postponed to allow for further preparation on the EU3 offer to Iran, a spokesman for the British Foreign Office said. We are not able to confirm the new date just yet.

Meanwhile, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Irans has turned down a European offer, including a light-water nuclear reactor, in return for Iran giving up its uranium enrichment programme.

They think they are dealing with a four-year-old child, telling him they will give hum walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him in return, the Iranian president told a meeting in the central city of Arak. We dont need your initiatives, he added in remarks broadcast by central television.

Iran will make its stand to the right to a civilian nuclear power program, and no threats or incentives will influence the will of the Iranian people, the state television quoted him as saying.

Iran does not demand more than its rights ensuing from participation in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty envisage, and it will dig in toes as concerns its rights, the president stressed. He urged the world powers not to take steps that would make the IAEA nuclear watchdog lose its influence.

If an offer is made to Iran to introduce a moratorium on nuclear activity, then it is necessary to consider that other states also suspend their activity in that sphere, the Iranian leader emphasised.

He reminded the audience that Iran had twice introduced a moratorium on uranium enrichment for a period of two years, stressing that it had been a bitter experience for his country.

We wont be bitten twice, Ahmadinejad said.

His speech was often interrupted with the chanting of anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans. The crowd enthusiastically supported his stance.

The president also hinted that Iran can pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the West fails to recognise its right to a civilian nuclear power program. Dont force governments and nations to renounce their membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, he said.

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