BRUSSELS, (Reuters):
IRAN YESTERDAY rejected Western pressure for an immediate response to an international offer of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment, telling the European Union the proposal lacked proper legal guarantees.
A meeting between chief Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana ended with no sign of progress, although they agreed to keep in touch after Solana reports to major power foreign ministers in Paris yesterday .
Rebuffing calls for a quick answer to the offer of economic, technological and political sweeteners, Larijani told a news conference: "We must be patient and try to negotiate ... We must allow more time for negotiations to work."
While the Brussels talks were under way, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad breathed defiance back home, saying his country would defend its right to produce nuclear fuel.
"The Iranian nation will not retreat one iota on its way to realising all of its rights, including complete nuclear rights and employing the capacities to produce nuclear fuel," student news agency ISNA quoted him as saying in northwest Iran.
