The offer, apparently coordinated with the United States on Friday at a G8 meeting in Washington, will come as a Nov. 25 deadline looms for Iran to comply with the demands of the United Nations nuclear watchdog - the International Atomic Energy Agency - to suspend all enrichment-related activities and come clean about its nuclear plans or be referred to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions.

Iran's top nuclear negotiator and secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rowhani, dashed hopes for the effectiveness of the offer when he said Monday Tehran was prepared for further negotiations with the European nations only over the length of its uranium-enrichment suspension but that it would never abandon its right of fuel-cycle work.

If they (the European Union trio) want to negotiate about tactical matters, such as the extension and duration of the suspension, then these are negotiable, Rowhani was quoted by the Iranian media as saying.

The European offer is said to include such incentives as a pledge to resume EU-Iran trade talks as well as guarantees that Iran will be provided with the required nuclear fuel for its reactors.

But if the issue is to stop Iran from pursuing its right, our representatives are not even allowed to have talks about these issues with anyone, Rowhani said.

Earlier, another national security official, Hussein Mousavian, had said Tehran is not prepared for cessation and that any package embracing a cessation of fuel cycle work would be rejected. He, however, echoed previous comments from some other Iranian officials that his country was ready to discuss new initiatives to provide guarantees that the process would never lead to military purposes.

Enriched uranium, depending on its level of purity, could be used for both power generation and weapons manufacture.

In a commentary on Tuesday, Iranian state television said the European proposal as reported by some foreign media was nothing but a hindrance to Iran's scientific achievements.

On Sunday, a conservative lawmaker and a member of Iranian Parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, Ahmad Pishbin, described what he called the exchange of uranium enrichment for technology as mischief that would jostle the country into dependence.

They (the Europeans) maintain that access to nuclear technology should be under monopoly of a few countries and they are afraid of Iran's access (to the technology), he was quoted as saying.

Pishbin referred to Article 4 of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, known as the NPT, saying it authorizes the signatories to develop nuclear technology. He stressed Iran should go ahead with its uranium enrichment programs because we cast no doubt on the nature of our ambitions.

Iran, a signatory to the agreement, insists it wants to master the full nuclear fuel cycle to provide fuel for the several reactors that are planned to be built to generate some 7,000 megawatts of electricity by the year 2020. The United States and Israel, however, suspect the intention, accusing the Islamic republic of using the technology as a cover to produce weapons.

It is unacceptable to say that such and such a European country or the United States has the right to fuel cycle and nuclear power plants, but that Iran does not have the right, Rowhani said, adding, Nobody can tell us that. It is illogical and contrary to international rules and the NPT. We will not give up our national right.

We have decided to have nuclear power stations ... and this is not negotiable, he asserted.

Russia, being involved in an $800 million deal to build Iran's first nuclear power station, has joined other Western countries in expressing concern about Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who recently visited Iran, said Tehran should ratify a protocol signed last year with the IAEA and end its uranium enrichment program. He, however, stressed that Russia would continue to cooperate with Iran on construction of the 1,000-megawatt Bushehr plant, which both countries announced last week it was almost completed and ready to be launched in the next year or so.

We're done, a spokesman for Russia's Atomic Energy Agency was quoted as saying. All we need to do now is work out an agreement on sending spent fuel back to Russia.

The agreement, going through its final stages, according to Iranian officials, is apparently designed to allay international concerns. It would guarantee the return of the spent fuel, which could be used to make weapons. The signing, however, has been repeatedly delayed.

Analysts say Iran's nuclear program has somehow turned into the country's national pride and a solution to the stand-off seems to be even harder than it was over Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction.

Iran's case is not like Iraq that could be dealt with easily, a top Iranian MP and spokesman for the Parliament's Foreign Policy and National Security Committee, Kazem Jalali, was quoted as having said earlier this month.

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