Iran issues warning on new Europe nuclear offer

Iran has warned that it would only consider new European incentives aimed at finding a deal over its atomic program if the offer recognizes the Islamic republic's right to enrich uranium. The comments from Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki starkly underlined Tehran's refusal to abandon a process that Western countries want Iran to renounce and is the key sticking point in the escalating nuclear standoff. "Any incentive that does not include Iran's right to nuclear technology and the ways to secure it will not have any attraction for the Iranian people and government," the IRNA agency quoted Mottaki as telling reporters in Indonesia. For Iran, the right to nuclear technology means first and foremost its right to uranium enrichment, a highly sensitive process that can be used both for making nuclear fuel and in a weapons program.