Iran said yesterday it would reject any proposal to halt uranium enrichment, a step European Union diplomats are proposing to end a row over whether Iran is seeking atomic weapons

EU diplomats have said they are seeking US and Russian support for a deal that would ask Iran to give up uranium enrichment in return for technical and economic assistance. “Any proposal which deprives Iran of its legitimate right to a fuel cycle is not acceptable,” Hossein Mousavian, Iran’s head of foreign policy on the Supreme National Security Council, told state TV. However, he said he was not responding to a specific offer. “We have not yet received the text of the proposal and have to see what it contains to assess it,” he said. EU diplomats have said Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani will visit Europe over the next two weeks as part of Iran’s diplomatic efforts to avoid being sent to the UN Security Council in November for possible sanctions. The French Foreign Ministry in Paris, asked about Mousavian’s remarks, said France would still push for Iran to give up its enrichment programme. “Time is short. France and its partners will continue to work with the Iranian authorities ... with, as their goal, securing the complete suspension by Iran of its enrichment and reprocessing activities,” a spokesman said. Iran mines uranium ore in its central desert near the city of Yazd, and Iranian politicians have been united in saying that the fuel cycle, from cutting uranium ore out of the ground to producing fuel, should be entirely in Iranian hands.