Mottaki made the comments when asked if Iran would still hold talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had last Wednesday ruled out talks with the EU over the nuclear dispute outside the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Mottaki reiterated that Iran would not suspend its uranium enrichment programmes despite the latest UN resolution and harsher sanctions adding that the country would continue its cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog "but as a normal IAEA member state."

Mottaki was speaking at an international conference in Tehran considered to be another effort by Iran to persuade the West of the peaceful nature of its nuclear projects.

The conference was being held at the foreign ministry and was being attended by some 50 scholars, lawyers and politicians from Germany, the US, Italy and Jordan amongst other countries.

"The IAEA reports show that our nuclear programmes have been peaceful and that Western opposition is politically oriented," the Iranian chief diplomat said.

He accused the veto powers plus Germany to use the UN and the IAEA as a political instrument and hence discredit them.

"The current global management is not based on equality and justice but rather on force, but world states no longer give in to forceful policies," Mottaki said.

Agencies

Güncelleme Tarihi: 09 Mart 2008, 15:24