Nuclear weapon: Iran warns US stop playing with fire

Iran rejected a European offer aimed at limiting its nuclear fuel activities and warned the &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/mailbox/22/101/399/14868_Guantanamo.html' target=_blank>United States against "playing with fire" in an increasingly bellicose standoff between Tehran and the West.

Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi insisted Iran would not give up construction of a heavy-water reactor, which can be used to make &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/350/11033_putin.html' target=_blank>nuclear weapons material, in exchange for a light-water reactor offered by the Europeans.

"We welcome such proposals but we will not under any circumstances replace our heavy-water research reactor," Asefi said at a press conference. "We will continue working on our heavy-water reactor," under construction at Arak southwest of Tehran, writes the Turkish Press.

An American newspaper, meanwhile, reported that &to=http:// english.pravda.ru/usa/2002/11/25/39919_.html' target=_blank>U.S. military bases had been flying pilotless drone aircraft into Iran to hunt for tell-tale traces of nuclear weapons programs.

Asefi said Iran was determined to continue its nuclear program which it says is solely for peaceful power generation.