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Iran: EU offer 'walnuts for gold'Ahmadinejad dismisses possible EU incentive of reactor
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected a possible European offer for incentives, including a light-water nuclear reactor, in return for giving up uranium-enrichment program. "We don't need incentives," Ahmadinejad said on state-run TV. "They cannot stop our progress by offering us incentives." "Do you think you are dealing with a 4-year-old child to whom you can give some walnuts and chocolates and get gold from him?" Ahmadinejad added, according to The Associated Press. The Iranian leader's comments came in the midst of reports that Britain, France and Germany were putting together a tentative incentives package that would include a light-water nuclear reactor in exchange for Tehran giving up uranium enrichment. Light-water reactors are more difficult to use in the development of weapons than are heavy-water plants that produce more nuclear material. Iran has ignored a U.N. Security Council demand that it stop enrichment activities or face possible sanctions. On Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was open to any proposal to resolve the nuclear issue as long as it acknowledges its legal and inalienable right to pursue nuclear energy under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran insists that it has a right under the 1968 NPT to produce nuclear fuel. But the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has called on Iranian officials to clear up unresolved questions about its intentions. The Security Council is debating a resolution, backed by the United States, Britain and France, that would give the demand the force of international law and open the door to possible sanctions if Iran continues to refuse. Russia and China, two of the council's veto-wielding permanent members, have said they oppose sanctions. Enriched uranium can be used to fuel power plants or, in much higher concentrations, to produce a nuclear explosion. The United States accuses Iran of working toward nuclear weapons -- an allegation Tehran denies. "Why are you still acting and talking as though these are colonial times," Ahmadinejad said Wednesday. "We do not demand anything more than our rights." Meanwhile diplomats said a top-level meeting of the U.N. Security Council's five permanent members and Germany to discuss the Iranian nuclear standoff had been postponed while Washington seeks to harden proposed penalties if Tehran does not give up uranium enrichment. The meeting was to have been held in London Friday. But diplomats told AP it had been moved to Tuesday or Wednesday to allow more time for phone talks about what should be in a package of incentives to be offered to Tehran. In his speech, Ahmadinejad added that Iran trusted the European Union in 2003 and suspended its nuclear activities, but the Europeans ultimately said Iran must not enrich uranium at all. "We won't be bitten twice," Ahmadinejad said, referring to an Iranian proverb about not repeating a mistake. "We recommend that you not sacrifice your interests for the sake of others," he said, in what AP said was an apparent warning to the EU about supporting the position advocated by the United States. Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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