Iran wants accord but will enrich regardless

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran wants international help to broaden its uranium enrichment program to an industrial scale but if assistance is not forthcoming it will forge ahead with the work, which it insists is peaceful.

A senior Iranian nuclear official, Ali Hosseinitash, told Reuters on Thursday Iran's current focus was perfecting its small-scale research and development enrichment program despite U.N. Security Council calls for it to be halted.

"Ending the dispute is valuable for everybody. But nuclear activities and capabilities are also valuable to us," said Hosseinitash, head of strategic affairs at the Supreme National Security Council, which is in charge of Iran's nuclear diplomacy.

"We will do our utmost (to reach an understanding) but if our attempts fail we will not stop our work," he said, referring to the large-scale enrichment that could either power a nuclear plant or produce fissile material for an atomic weapon.

Iran is slowly building its first nuclear reactor in the southern port city of Bushehr with Russian help. It often says it wants foreign cooperation in its nuclear plans but the row over the program's real nature has deterred all others.

Hosseinitash repeated Iran's insistence it wants atomic expertise for power production and national pride, not to build nuclear arms.

Western nations say Iran secretly wants it for military purposes, which Washington says must not be allowed to happen.

While speaking of a desire for compromise and understanding, Hosseinitash's bottom line that Iran will keep and expand an indigenous enrichment program will add to foreign alarm that has already seen Iran referred to the UN Security Council.

Britain, Germany and France are now working on incentives for Iran, including an offer of a light-water nuclear reactor, the type that is less easy to divert to military uses. Hosseinitash said the offer would be "a positive step."

But Tehran would not give up enrichment in exchange as the European Union trio want. "I think this would be unsuccessful behavior," he said.

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