TEHRAN – Tehran will never relinquish its “legal and inalienable right” to enriching uranium, Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki said on Friday.

“However, Iran has welcomed positively any idea and effort for holding serious and logical negotiation to resolve its nuclear issue,” Mottaki said in an address to the members of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations.
Iran is under Western pressure to suspend its uranium enrichment. The Western powers accuse the Islamic Republic of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
The UN Security Council has slapped three rounds of sanctions on Iran over its nuclear activities but Tehran insists its program is peaceful and solely aimed at generating electricity.
“Every one including European Union foreign policy chief Javiar Solana and the representatives of the six countries have admitted that there is no legal basis to demand Iran suspend enrichment,” Mottaki explained.
Six major powers -- Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States -- have put forward the possibility of a package of technological, economic and political incentives if Iran suspends uranium enrichment.
Expounding on regional issues, Mottaki said that Iran has played a constructive role in resolving regional crises such as Iraq, Afghanistan, and Lebanon.
This shows that countries can resolve regional crises more effectively, he said, adding that the interference of extra-regional powers has created or intensified tensions in different parts of the world especially in the Middle East.
The Iranian foreign minister went on to say that the security gains in Iraq has not been a result of the U.S. troops surge, rather it has been a product of improved management by the Iraqi government