Iran says won't go down "unending road" with IAEA

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran will not be dragged down an "unending road" in dealings with the U.N. atomic watchdog, Iran's foreign minister said on Thursday, adding Washington was perpetuating a "huge lie" about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Speaking at a think tank in New York, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki reiterated Tehran's position that it would press ahead with its nuclear program and had no ambition to build an atomic bomb. He added that it had cooperated with the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Washington and other Western countries suspect Iran is developing a nuclear bomb and the U.N. Security Council has demanded Iran halt enriching uranium.

Iran has repeatedly denied blocking IAEA inquiries but says that inspectors, egged on by Iran's arch-foe the United States, are seeking unacceptable access to purely conventional military sites whose exposure would jeopardize its security.

The IAEA and Western nations say Iran must grant such access to clear up intelligence allegations of military involvement in the nuclear program. More generally, Iran should stop limiting inspector movements to declared nuclear sites, they say.

"We are not going to allow ourselves to be pushed into an unending road, a road which will be directed by the United States," Mottaki said at the Asia Society in Manhattan.

"For the United States, it is difficult to accept the peaceful nature of Iran's program because once it accepts, it can no longer oppose," Mottaki said.

"So they continue with a huge lie, perpetuating this huge lie, they're saying that Iran wants to have the bomb."

He said Iran was committed to negotiating in a process led by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, and welcomed participation of a high-level U.S. diplomat in talks on Iran's nuclear program in Geneva in the summer.

"Mr Solana has given to us a modality for the negotiations. We have responded by proposing our own modality," he said.

"We believe that the common ground which exists in the two sets of modalities can serve as a basis for the continuation of the talks."

"If there is sufficient political will .... I fully believe that if we continue with the negotiations, we will later reach an agreed point, which will lead us to agreed action," he said.

But Mottaki left no doubt that Tehran had no plan to reverse its nuclear policies.

"The issue of Iran's nuclear activity is not a problem. We are going about our usual business, (with) our peaceful nuclear program as a fully fledged NPT member," Mottaki said, referring to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which Tehran signed.

(Editing by Philip Barbara)