Ahmadinejad rules out nuclear concessions

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday ruled out giving "the slightest concession" in Iran's atomic stand-off with the West, amid doubts over whether new talks with the European Union would go ahead. Ahmadinejad's remarks were the latest sign his government has no intention of suspending uranium enrichment, the key sticking point between Iran and world powers in the nuclear crisis.
"They (the enemies) must know that Iran will not give the slightest concession... to any power," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live by state television. "If they manage to take even a small concession from us, they will later seek other concessions by making threats," he said during a trip to the northern province of Ardebil.
Iranian officials said his close ally and new top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili is due to meet EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana next week in their latest attempt to break the deadlock. Ahmadinejad last month replaced former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani with Jalili, a move that was interpreted as aiming to increase Ahmadinejad's control in the nuclear talks.
"The meeting will take place in the next week but the venue and the exact date has not been determined," said an official source at Iran's Supreme National Security Council which is headed by Jalili. But Solana doubted whether the meeting could take place in the next two weeks.
"I have been in contact with them (the Iranians). I don't see this week because they have not offered any date. I will be at their disposal this week but it has not been possible," he told reporters in Brussels.
"Next week will be very difficult," he said. Solana is due to take part in a key Middle East peace conference in the United States on Tuesday. A meeting scheduled for Wednesday between Jalili's deputy Javad Vaeedi and a top Solana aide Robert Cooper, to prepare the crucial encounter between their bosses, was also postponed to a later date, officials said.
Solana must report to the UN Security Council by the end of November on Tehran's willingness to comply with the council's demand to freeze uranium enrichment, a potential bomb-making process.