Iran says always ready for nuclear talks

By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Iran was "opposed to any proliferation" of nuclear weapons and was always ready to talk about its nuclear program.

The United Nations in December imposed sanctions banning transfers of nuclear technology and expertise to Iran for its refusal to stop enriching uranium for nuclear fuel.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to lawmakers in the Iranian parliament while introducing the new Justice Minister in Tehran February 13, 2007. Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday that Iran was "opposed to any proliferation" of nuclear weapons and was always ready to talk about its nuclear program. (REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi)

Tehran, the world's No. 4 oil exporter, says its effort to enrich uranium is aimed only at electricity production, while the United States suspects the goal is nuclear weapons.

"We are opposed to any proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons," Ahmadinejad said in an interview in Tehran with U.S. television network ABC.

"It's a time for logic, for rationality and for civilization instead of thinking of finding new weapons," Ahmadinejad said.

The United Nations has hinted that it may expand sanctions should Tehran fail to meet a Feb. 21 deadline to halt uranium enrichment, a process that can make fuel for power stations, or if greatly enriched, material for warheads.

"We are always ready to talk within the framework of regulations and as long as the rights of the human nation are safeguarded," Ahmadinejad said.

European Union ministers said on Monday that Iran was showing "new ambition" to negotiate an end to the nuclear dispute and that the door was open for new talks. But the EU diplomats also agreed to implement U.N. sanctions to keep pressure on Tehran.

Nuclear talks last year between Iran and six world powers -- the United States, Britain, Germany, France, and China and Russia -- failed after Tehran refused to suspend enrichment work.

An internal European Union study leaked on Tuesday concludes that international economics sanctions alone will not prevent Iran from acquiring the capacity to make enough high-grade uranium for a nuclear bomb.

Ahmadinejad celebrated the 28th anniversary of Iran's revolution on Sunday with a pledge to purse the country's nuclear program.

The United States has been adamant it would not accept anything short of a full suspension of Iran's nuclear program and has stepped up pressure on Iran by sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington are also running high, as the United States accuses Iran of supplying Shi'ite militants in Iraq with sophisticated weapons that have killed U.S. troops.

Ahmadinejad denied on Monday that Iran is supplying sophisticated weapons to Iraqi militants.

(Additional reporting by John O'Callaghan and Philip Barbara)