Deadline ends, Tehran unmoved

Iran vowed on Wednesday to press on with its nuclear fuel programme, ignoring a UN deadline to freeze uranium enrichment or face broader sanctions...

Iran vowed on Wednesday to press on with its nuclear fuel programme, ignoring a UN deadline to freeze uranium enrichment or face broader sanctions, but offered to guarantee it would not try to develop atomic weapons.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad remained defiant as a 60-day grace period Iran had been given on December 23 to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel was expiring.

8220;We8230;will continue our work to reach our right to nuclear technology in the shortest possible time,8221; student news agency ISNA quoted him as saying in the town of Siahkal.

With the deadline running out, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been unable to verify Iran8217;s program is wholly peaceful after three years of investigations, was expected to report to the UN Security Council by Thursday that Tehran was pursuing enrichment regardless of pressure to stop.

The West suspects Iran is trying to make atom bombs behind the facade of a civilian nuclear energy program. Tehran says it wants only an alternative source of electricity so it can maximise oil exports and prepare for when oil reserves run dry.

8220;Obtaining this technology is very important for our country8217;s development and honor,8221; Ahmadinejad said. 8220;It is worth it to stop other activities for 10 years and focus only on the nuclear issue.8221;

Ultimate authority on nuclear matters lies not with Ahmadinejad but Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But senior Iranian leaders have all ruled out halting nuclear work as a precondition for talks on trade benefits from the West.

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The council, which two months ago banned transfers of nuclear technology and expertise to Iran, would consider wider sanctions 8212; such as a travel ban on Iranians linked to nuclear activity 8212; if Tehran had not frozen enrichment work by February 21.

The result was already clear, said US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. 8220;The Iranians have unfortunately not acceded to the international community8217;s demands and we will have to consult. We will have to decide how to move forward,8221; she told reporters during a visit to Berlin on Wednesday.

Top Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani said after talks on Tuesday with IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei that Tehran would give necessary assurances during negotiations that it would never divert enrichment into bombmaking.

Ali Akbar Velayati, a senior adviser to Khamenei, told the French daily Le Monde that Larijani8217;s message to El Baradei was that Iran was flexible on formulas for a negotiated deal, 8220;but one cannot dictate the solution in advance8221;.

8211;Mark Heinrich