VIENNA, Austria -Iran is unlikely to accept European incentives aimed at getting it to suspend uranium enrichment, diplomats said yesterday, raising the prospect of a showdown next month between Tehran and the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency.
Envoys from Britain, France and Germany offered civilian nuclear technology and a trade deal to the Iranians in a private meeting at the French mission to international organizations in Vienna. But Western diplomats said they doubt Iran will back down easily.
Iran did not immediately respond to the incentives, which included the promise of lucrative trade, a light-water nuclear research reactor and the chance to buy nuclear fuel from the West.
An Iranian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Thursday's meeting did not involve detailed negotiations, merely a formal presentation of the European offer.
The offer came a day after President Mohammad Khatami said Iran would not give up uranium enrichment, which can be used both to generate electricity and build a nuclear weapon.
Iran insists its nuclear activities are peaceful and geared solely toward generating electric power. The United States contends it is running a covert atomic weapons program.
On Nov. 25, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors will deliver a fresh assessment of Iran's cooperation with the nuclear agency.
The United States is pressing to report Iran's noncompliance to the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to impose sanctions.
Iran is unlikely to cave in quickly to demands that it suspend enrichment, said a Western diplomat familiar with the nuclear agency's dealings with Tehran. The official was not directly involved in Thursday's meeting.
The Bush administration -which labeled Iran part of an axis of evil along with North Korea and Iraq when it was still ruled by Saddam Hussein -said this week it did not endorse the European allies' plan.
Experts say Iran has been building a heavy-water reactor, which would use plutonium that also could be used in a nuclear weapon.
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