U.S., Iran trade blame over nuclear tensions

Rice in Europe: Don't let Tehran set terms for ending program

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Iran's ballistic missiles

updated 4:48 p.m. ET Feb. 8, 2005

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran and the United States on Tuesday blamed the other for tensions related to Tehran’s alleged nuclear weapons program.

Condoleezza Rice, who is on her first major diplomatic tour as U.S. Secretary of State said Tuesday that Iran cannot be permitted to set its own conditions for carrying out a pledge not to develop nuclear weapons.

“We should not let the Iranians continue to create new conditions that have to be fulfilled somehow before they are prepared to live up to their international obligations,” she said after talks with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier.

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Britain, France and Germany are seeking to persuade Iran, a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, to renounce nuclear weapons as Tehran develops a civilian atomic program Washington suspects is designed to give it nuclear arms. The United States has taken a harder line that its allies in Europe.

Iranian official: Any U.S. strike would fail
Meanwhile, Iran’s top nuclear negotiator said Tuesday that Tehran wants to resolve decades of differences with the United States but warned that a U.S. military strike would not be able to destroy its nuclear facilities.

"We are not seeking tension with the United States," Hasan Rowhani told the state-run television. "We are seeking to resolve our problems with America but it's the Americans who don't want problems be resolved."

"There is no problem in today's world that can't be resolved," he insisted.

Rowhani, who is the secretary of the powerful Supreme National Security Council, said a U.S. military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities will fail.

"Iran's nuclear technology is in the hands of its scientists and workshops throughout the country. All of them have the ability to produce centrifuges. Therefore, America will not be able to destroy our nuclear facilities and mines through a military strike," he warned.