Iran rejects key demand in nuclear talks

POSTED: 3:04 a.m. EDT, May 30, 2007

Story Highlights• 'We will not accept any preconditions' for talks, Iran's Larijani says

• Larijani to meet Solana Thursday in Madrid
• West believes Iran is trying to build atomic bombs
• Tehran denies the charge, says its program is aimed at generating electricity

TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iran will not suspend uranium enrichment, the key U.N. demand in a nuclear row with Tehran, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said the day before talks with the EU's Javier Solana.

"Suspension is not a solution to Iran's nuclear issue ... Iran cannot accept suspension," Larijani told reporters at a Tehran airport before his departure.

"We have no conditions, and we are ready for constructive talks, but we will not accept any preconditions. We are ready to remove concerns over Iran's atomic issue."

Larijani meets Solana, the EU foreign policy chief leading discussions on behalf of world powers, on Thursday in Madrid.

Previous meetings have failed to persuade Tehran to obey U.N. resolutions demanding that it halt enrichment, a process which the West believes Iran is seeking to master so that it can build atomic bombs. Tehran denies the charge.

The U.N. Security Council has imposed two sets of sanctions on Iran since December for its failure to heed U.N. demands. The United States, which has led efforts to isolate Iran, has threatened further steps.

Iran insists its program is aimed at generating electricity. Iran's first nuclear power plant is still being built.

Iran temporarily suspended enrichment under a previous deal with the European Union but that pact collapsed in 2005 and Tehran resumed the work.

Solana is empowered by the world's major powers -- the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany as well as the EU -- to explore the scope for formal negotiations on a package of economic, technological and political initiatives if Iran suspends enrichment.