TEHRAN, Aug 16: Iran said on Wednesday it was ready to discuss suspension of uranium enrichment, barely two weeks before a UN Security Council deadline to halt the sensitive nuclear work or risk sanctions.

“Even the proposal to suspend enrichment, which we regard as illogical, can be discussed in negotiations,” Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a press conference. “We do not see any logic in suspension so we are ready to explain and express that to the other side.”

The United States, which is leading the campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme, dismissed Mr Mottaki’s comments.

Tehran has said it will respond on Aug 22 to an offer by the five UN Security Council members, plus Germany, for a package of incentives including cooperation and multilateral talks in return for suspending enrichment.

Iran has repeatedly rejected suspension as a pre-condition to negotiations aimed at ending the long-running standoff with the West over its nuclear programme, which the United States suspects is a cover for plans to build the bomb.

Tehran says it wants to develop nuclear fuel for energy generation and insists it has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Mr Mottaki’s statement came against the background of an Aug 31 deadline imposed by the UN Security Council for Iran to suspend all activities related to enrichment, or risk possible sanctions.

He said any negotiations should ‘guarantee obtaining the Iranian people’s rights as well as clearing up any questions, ambiguities and concerns regarding the Islamic republic’s peaceful nuclear activities’.

“We will not back down on our legitimate rights under any conditions.” The West suspects Tehran wants the capacity to make weapons-grade uranium, which could then be used for nuclear weapons.

Since the UN Security Council’s resolution on July 31, Iran has repeatedly stressed that it will not accept suspending enrichment as a pre-condition for talks on the incentive package.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejected the resolution on Tuesday, saying: “If they think they can use a resolution as a stick against us, they should know that Iranian people do not bend to language of force.”

And Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Sheikh-Attar has said that Iran could cope with sanctions.

“The government has considered necessary measures to confront any sanction. Under the worst conditions, we have the capability to face threats and find foreign and domestic alternatives,” the official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying.

“Playing games with Iran’s economy by creating restrictions will be very costly for the West,” he warned, alluding to probable economic shocks. “They will lose Iran’s market for western goods. Besides Iran is OPEC’s second oil producer.”

Washington, which already has unilateral sanctions against Tehran, has said it will seek swift economic and political UN sanctions if it fails to freeze the nuclear work.

And in a reaction to Mr Mottaki’s comments, a US State Department spokesman noted the range of ‘different messages’ that have been coming out of Iran over the past month.

“We’re not looking for comments on the periphery, we’re looking for an official response from the Iranians to the UNSC resolution,” said Gonzalo Gallegos.

But one Middle East analyst said he had expected Tehran to ease away from its hard line before the Aug 31 deadline.

“The Iranians are remarkably skilled at getting to a decision point and then seeing if they can comply 20 per cent, or 30 per cent,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.—AFP