Iran refuses to halt nuclear work as deadline passes

By Mark Heinrich

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran brushed off threats intended to make it freeze its nuclear program as a U.N. deadline to do so fell due on Wednesday, but offered to guarantee it would not seek atomic weapons.

Iran, defiant as a 60-day grace period it had been given to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel ran out, again vowed it would not halt its nuclear activities as a precondition for talks on trade benefits offered by six world powers.

The U.N. Security Council, which in December banned transfers of technology and expertise to Tehran's nuclear program, may consider broader sanctions if Tehran, as expected, does not freeze enrichment work by February 21.

The West suspects Tehran is conducting an atomic weapons project disguised as a bid to produce peaceful atomic energy.

"Maybe there are certain groups or countries willing to coerce Iran ... (but) Iran's nuclear dossier cannot be resolved through force and pressure," Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Tuesday, alluding mainly to the United States, which has built up strike forces in the Gulf near Iran.

Iran says its program aims solely to generate electricity.

"If the other side expresses concerns about possible deviations of Iran's activities in the future, we have no objections to settling these concerns at the negotiating table," Larijani said after meeting the U.N. nuclear watchdog director.

"We would give the necessary assurances and guarantees (in negotiations) that there will be no deviation ever toward nuclear weapons (in Iran)," said Larijani, who Iranian officials said would go to Italy for talks on Wednesday.

"We are a country with no intentions to develop nuclear weapons. We want to work within the framework of the NPT (nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty)."

He said he had "constructive" talks with International Atomic Energy Agency director Mohamed ElBaradei on ways of reviving talks with Western powers. But he offered no sign Iran was ready to compromise on the issue of suspension.

IAEA EXPECTED TO CONFIRM IRANIAN DEFIANCE

ElBaradei, whose agency has been unable to verify that Iran's nuclear work is wholly peaceful after three years of investigations, was expected to report to the Security Council that Tehran had ignored the deadline to suspend enrichment.

But his report was now more likely to appear on Thursday, not Wednesday as expected, a diplomat close to the IAEA said.

ElBaradei has urged both sides to take a mutual "timeout" to enable talks -- Iran would suspend enrichment rather than accelerate it from research level to "industrial scale" as planned at its Natanz plant, while sanctions would be suspended.

A diplomat close to the IAEA said Iranian officials were sounding positive in private about a "timeout" and hoped EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who led earlier talks with Larijani, would be authorized to discuss it with him.