Iran offers to bring foreign firms in program
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-09-18 08:52

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Iran unveiled proposals to end a standoff over its suspected nuclear weapons program, including an offer to involve foreign firms in its controversial uranium-enrichment program.

But in a much-anticipated address to the UN General Assembly, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned that Tehran would reconsider its stance if it was subjected to "a language of force and threat."

France, which is trying with Britain and Germany to persuade Iran to renounce any nuclear arms ambitions, wasted little time in saying it was unconvinced by the Iranian's proposals.

"What I heard today makes me say the option of referral ... to the UN Security Council remains on the agenda," Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declined immediate comment, but urged Tehran to hold "realistic discussions" on the standoff.

Rice said outside the UN General Assembly that she had not had time to read the Iranian proposals. But she told reporters, "I hope Iran will engage in realistic discussions with the rest of the world about what is possible.

Ahmadinejad proposed as a "further confidence-building measure" a pledge to "engage in serious partnership with private and public sectors of other countries in the implementation of the uranium-enrichment program in Iran."

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