Thursday, June 22 2006 18:03 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Tehran: Iran wants to keep hold of its sensitive nuclear fuel cycle technology, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said today (June 22, 2006) in yet another sign Tehran is unwilling to bow to international demands for a suspension.

"The nuclear fuel cycle belongs to all Iranians and everyone has a right to use it. All people insist on maintaining this right," he was quoted as saying in a speech in Hamedan province.

"If science and technology are good, they should be good for all. We have never been cruel to anyone and we will not bow to cruelty," the ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.

The world community has called on Iran to respond to a package of incentives offered by five permanent Security Council members plus Germany in exchange for the suspension of Tehran's controversial nuclear enrichment programme.

Iran insists its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to produce energy, but the United States and its allies suspect the program is a cover for the development of atomic weapons.