Iran today ruled out halting its programme of uranium enrichment despite an EU offer of enhanced incentives offered if it shelved sensitive nuclear activity.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana reaffirmed the six world powers behind the package wanted Iran to suspend enrichment during negotiations on the offer - a precondition Tehran has repeatedly rejected.
"It is an offer that is going to be considered (by Iran) and we are waiting for the answer that they hope will be soon," Solana told a news conference during a rare trip to Tehran.
"We continue to ask for suspension, suspension during the time of negotiations and we will (then) see the outcome of negotiations," he said after presenting the revised package of trade and other benefits to Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki.
He said he hoped the powers' overture, tailored to coax Tehran into stopping pursuit of enrichment ability, a possible pathway to atom bombs, would be a springboard to negotiations.
Solana said the package included help for Iran to develop a civilian nuclear program with light water reactors -- seen as less prone to diversion into bombmaking than technology Tehran now has -- and legally-binding nuclear fuel supply guarantees.
"We are offering a proposal which we would like to be the starting point for real negotiations, (one) that would allow Iran to build a modern nuclear energy program," he said.
"It is full of opportunities for Iran," he said, reiterating that the six powers -- the United States, Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia - were ready to fully recognize Iran's right to have nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Flush with record oil revenues that have helped it withstand U.N. sanctions imposed over its nuclear defiance, Iran has long ruled out ending its quest for its own enrichment industry.
But the Islamic Republic says it is ready to engage in unconditional negotiations with the world powers.
"Iran's view is clear: any precondition is unacceptable," government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham said when asked about the batch of sweeteners, originally proposed two years ago. "If the package includes suspension it is not debatable at all."