Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to consider an incentive offer made by members of the European Union that Iran would drop its nuclear program in exchange for a light-water reactor and improvements in trade between Iran and the West.
'They say we want to give Iranians incentives but they think they are dealing with a four-year-old, telling him they will give him candies or walnuts and take gold from him in return,' Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the central city of Arak.
'Iran will not accept any suspension or freeze' Ahmadinejad announced in a broadcast on national television. 'We trusted you three years ago and accepted suspension but unfortunately this proved to be a bitter experience in Iranian history. We will not be bitten by the same snake twice,' he added.
Iran did suspend its nuclear program in 2003 in an agreement with Britain, France and Germany. Its relations with those three nations and the West in general did not significantly improve according to Ahmadinejad.
The hard-line Iranian president also warned the West that Iran may pull out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is pushed. 'Don't force governments and nations which are signatories to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to pull out of it,' he said.
The U.S. and E.U. are now in a difficult situation with regard to Iran. China and Russia have maintained strong opposition to any U.N. sanctions against Tehran and would likely veto any resolution seeking same. The U.S. military is overextended in Iraq and Afghanistan and the bungling of the war in Iraq has helped significantly lower President Bush's approval ratings. The U.S. may not have many effective options to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons capabilities.
