TEHRAN, March 4: Top Iranian officials gave fresh signals on Friday that Tehran will reject a demand from Britain, France and Germany that it completely halt sensitive nuclear activities in return for a package of incentives.

Speaking in a Friday prayer sermon, top cleric and powerful ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani warned the European Union, the United States and the UN's atomic watchdog that they were facing "trouble" for pressuring Iran to abandon fuel cycle work.

"I say to the Europe, US and the agency that this style of confrontation will definitely not bring you a favourable result, and it will cause trouble for you," he said. He complained that Iran had been forced to accept a "two-year suspension and delay in nuclear activities" and that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was "keeping Iran busy with resolutions and the sending of inspectors".

And while he said the international community was welcome to "bring up any issue that helps creating confidence", he said it should "not go further" - a reference to demands that Iran abandon its nuclear fuel cycle work in order to guarantee it will not acquire nuclear weapons.

The EU-3 are seeking "objective guarantees" that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons or press on with the capacity to make them - and want Iran to abandon its work on the nuclear fuel cycle, especially uranium enrichment.

Enrichment is a process which makes nuclear fuel but can also be the explosive core of atomic bombs. Mr Rafsanjani said stripping Iran of its right to operate the fuel cycle was tantamount to "arrogance, pride, bullying, monopolization and discrimination" on the part of the West, and claimed that Iran "will certainly not refrain from its right." -AFP