Iran rejects demands to abandon enrichment

Iran on Saturday refused to stop uranium enrichment after a U.N. report said it had done little or nothing to prove it was not developing nuclear weapons. Instead, it repeated a long-standing offer to let international inspectors make unannounced checks as long as the U.N. Security Council -- invoked by the West several months ago to put pressure on Iran -- dropped the case. Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), delivered a report on Friday saying U.N. checks in Iran had been hampered and Tehran had rebuffed requests to stop making nuclear fuel. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told state television that Iran wanted the Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions, to pass the case back down to the IAEA. "If the case returns to the agency (IAEA) again, we will begin the section that concerns the Additional Protocol," Saeedi said.