KEY POINTS:
TEHRAN - Iran will not discuss its "obvious right" to master nuclear technology but is open to talks that could reassure the West that its atomic plans were not aimed at making bombs, the foreign ministry said today.
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini also told a weekly news
conference that the Islamic Republic's military was "totally prepared to defend the country and Iran is totally prepared for any possible military strike."
The United States, which believes Iran is trying to build an atomic bomb, has said it wants a diplomatic solution to the row over Tehran's nuclear ambitions but has not ruled out military action if that route fails.
Some diplomats speculate President Mahmoud Amadinejad could announce progress in expanding Iran's nuclear fuel work on a visit to the Natanz uranium enrichment plant Monday.
Hosseini said Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana had been in contact over the dispute, which has prompted the United Nations to slap two rounds of sanctions on Iran.
But he said Iran would not discuss its right as a member of the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium, a process which can be used to make fuel for power stations, or material for warheads if enriched to a high enough level.
"The talks should have a purpose and Iran's obvious right will not be discussed. We want talks without preconditions to remove ambiguities and to assure the other parties there will be no diversion (to military uses)," Hosseini said.
In Crawford, Texas, Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for US President George W Bush, reiterated the US position.
"We're ready to talk to the Iranians, we're for peaceful civilian nuclear energy, but they need to comply with the will of the international community and the UN Security Council resolutions," Johndroe said.
The UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, says it has gaps in its knowledge about Iran's plans that need to be filled before it can confirm they are peaceful.
Ahmadinejad, accompanied by senior officials and journalists, will visit the Natanz plant in central Iran on Monday, the day on which he has said Iran will announce "good news" about its atomic plans.
Asked what he might announce, Hosseini said: "If you wait 24 hours, you will all find out."
Iran's Jam-e Jam newspaper wrote on Sunday that "tomorrow the installation and start up of 3000 centrifuges and the injection of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas will be announced by the president."
UF6 gas is fed into centrifuges, which enrich the feedstock by spinning at high speeds.
Jam-e Jam did not reveal a source for its report and Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
Iran now runs 350 experimental centrifuges at an above ground pilot facility at Natanz. The IAEA said in a report in February that Iran had set up two cascades of 164 centrifuges in its below ground facility, where Iran is installing 3000 machines as part of its "industrial" enrichment plans.
- REUTERS
