"The Europeans want to get from Iran a total halt to enrichment, but in the face of our strong opposition they insisted in the negotiations that Iran propose an alternative which also covers enrichment," Sirus Nasseri told the state news agency IRNA.

France, Britain and Germany are leading diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to permanently abandon its nuclear enrichment programme in return for a package of political and economic benefits.

The United States has said it believes Iran is using its civilian nuclear programme as cover for a drive to acquire nuclear weapons and is demanding that Iran abandon uranium enrichment activities.

"The Europeans are progressively learning that Iran will not sell out on its nuclear capacities," Nasseri said.

"Iran will not propose an alternative until Europe stops asking it to halt enrichment and no longer talks about it," he said, adding that "a final agreement in these negotiations will be based on the resumption of enrichment by Iran."

US President George W. Bush, who once famously lumped Iran in an "axis of evil" with Saddam Hussein's Iraq and North Korea, said Tehran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

"The Iranian regime must end support for terror and must not develop nuclear weapons," he said in a keynote speech in Brussels, his first stop in a three-country trip to Europe aimed at mending fences after the Iraq war.

Tehran says its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only and that other countries have civilian nuclear energy programmes.

Enrichment of uranium for peaceful use is allowed under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, a point repeatedly made by Tehran.

The United States has not ruled out military action against Iran over the nuclear issue charging, along with Israel -- widely believed to have its own nuclear weapons -- that Iran's aim is to produce nuclear arms.

Earlier this month, new US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged European negotiators to take a tough line with Iran.

"We are going to give the European a chance to come" to an accord but "this possibility will not be eternal," said Nasseri.

He insisted Tehran would complete the fuel cycle, adding: "Iran in the next 30 years will possess the necessary equipment to feed several power plants and export nuclear fuel."

Nasseri excluded any chance of direct negotiation with the Americans.

"The positions of the Islamic Republic and those of the American government on enrichment are exactly opposite to each other and there is no place for negotiation," he said, adding it was wiser to use the Europeans as mediators.

He dismissed US threats of force against Iran, saying they were more aimed at putting pressure on Europe than on Iran.

Iran's government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said he expected Washington to put pressure on the Europeans during Bush's trip.

"But the Europeans know our role, for stability and instability in the region," he said.

"It is up to them to decide if they want to align their positions with those of the Americans and harm their interests for the profit of the American government."

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