Iran sets condition for 'maximum' N-cooperation

Iran's promised it would show "maximum cooperation" only if the case was dealt with by the IAEA and not the UNSC.

Iran's promised on Sunday it would show "maximum cooperation" with a probe into its nuclear programme on condition the case was dealt with by the International Atomic Energy Agency and not the UN Security Council.

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"We have said that we are ready to solve the questions through dialogue. If the IAEA and the Security Council commit for the case to remain at the IAEA, we are ready for maximum cooperation," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.

"But if they take radical measures, we will take measures as a consequence. If their decisions are reasonable, ours will be too. If their decisions are radical, ours will be too," he added.

On Friday the IAEA confirmed Iran had not complied with a UN Security Council demand to freeze enrichment -- which can be used to make fuel for civilian nuclear reactors, but can also serve as the explosive core of atom bombs.

The United States and European powers are now poised to seek a Security Council resolution legally obliging Iran to meet IAEA and Council demands.

Foreign ministers of the five permanent Council members and Germany plan to gather in New York on May 9 to discuss the crisis. Representatives of these countries are also due to meet in Paris Tuesday ahead of the talks.

"The participants of the Paris and New York meetings must understand that Iran's nuclear programme corresponds to the wishes of the Iranian people and is irreversible," the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Mohamamd Saidi, told official media.

"The Islamic republic of Iran has no intention to stop or to suspend uranium enrichment," he said.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is a peaceful effort to generate electricity and therefore entirely legal.