Iran reiterated on Monday that it would not bow to US and European demands that it abandon uranium enrichment, stressing that its nuclear capability was "not for sale". Tehran stood defiant on the nuclear issue as US President George W. Bush started a European tour which will include discussions on Iran and other foreign policy issues. Washington and the European Union both want Tehran to scrap uranium enrichment, a process which can be used to make fuel for nuclear power plants or bomb-grade material.

But the United States has refused to join an initiative by the EU, represented by France, Germany and Britain, to offer Iran incentives to curtail its nuclear programme.

"I believe the European countries have eventually understood that Iran's nuclear capability is not for sale," said Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran's negotiating team currently engaged in talks about the nuclear issue with the EU.

"The final agreement in these negotiations will be based on the continuation of (uranium) enrichment by Iran," Naseri told the official IRNA news agency in Vienna.

"We will give the Europeans an opportunity to reach this stance but this opportunity won't be permanent," he added.

Copyright Reuters, 2005