KUALA LUMPUR/MOSCOW, 8 February 2005 — Iran’s foreign minister yesterday welcomed European offers for trade and other concessions in return for a partial suspension of its nuclear program, but insisted Tehran had every right to develop atomic power for peaceful purposes.

Minister Kamal Kharrazi, on a two-day visit that ends today, said Iran does not have a nuclear weapons program, as claimed by the United States. Under international pressure, Iran suspended uranium enrichment and all related activities in November to build trust and avoid UN Security Council sanctions.

Europe has also been pressing Iran to suspend parts of its nuclear program that could be used for making weapons. In exchange, Europe has offered Iran technological and financial support and talks on a trade deal.

“It is our right to have nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. We are asking for our rights. Naturally, if there is economic cooperation and political cooperation between Iran and the EU states, it will build up more confidence and more close cooperation and that environment will certainly be useful for the resolution of many conflicts,” Kharrazi said.

He was speaking to reporters after a two-hour meeting with his Malaysian counterpart, Syed Hamid Albar.

Iran has repeatedly denied it has a secret nuclear weapons programs, saying its nuclear activities are for peaceful energy purposes. Iranian negotiators are scheduled to hold a new round of talks today with Britain, Germany and France.

Kharrazi said Iran is not concerned by President George W. Bush’s State-of-the-Union address in which he put Tehran on notice, saying US threats are nothing new.

“Threats have always been coming from the American side against Iran and we are used to it. We are able to defend ourselves,” he said.

While the war of words continues, the International Atomic Energy Agency has agreed to monitor Iran’s suspended nuclear activities. Kharrazi said the suspension will be evaluated after three months and “if it has been quite fruitful, then we will continue.”

Meanwhile, Russia is preparing to sign a deal with Iran this month to start atomic fuel shipments for a Moscow-built nuclear reactor there, a Russian nuclear source said yesterday.

The move is certain to enrage the United States which says Iran can use Russian fuel to secretly make a nuclear bomb. Washington has long called on Russia to drop the plans.

The source in Russia’s Atomic Energy Agency said Moscow and Tehran had largely settled all remaining technicalities and were preparing to sign the accord when Alexander Rumyantsev, the agency’s head, travels to Iran at the end of February.

“This time the deal will be signed. Of course you can’t be 100 percent certain about anything but the probability of that is very high,” said the source, who is close to the Iran talks. The comments confirmed earlier hints by Moscow-based diplomats that Russia and Tehran had overcome disagreement over the deal’s terms and were moving closer to signing it after years of talks.

The source said the first containers with fuel would be supplied about two months after signing.

The 1,000-megawatt, $1 billion plant will be then launched in late 2005 and reach full capacity in 2006.

Spent fuel will be sent back to Siberian storage units after about a decade of use — a condition Russia thinks will remove US concerns that Iran would use the material to make weapons.

TVEL, Russia’s state nuclear fuel producer, has for years kept the fuel for Iran’s Bushehr plant at a storage facility in Siberia, awaiting Rumyantsev’s order to begin shipments.

Oil-rich Iran denies it is developing atomic arms and says its nuclear programs are for peaceful power generation needed to meet the energy demands of its growing population. On Sunday, Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani said there was nothing the West could offer Tehran that would persuade it to scrap a nuclear program.