Ground Report

Iran will never back down in a nuclear dispute with the West and is not interested in talks with the United States, its president said ahead of a previously unannounced visit by Russia’s Foreign Minister. Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking hours before he was due to meet Russia’s Sergei Lavrov in Tehran, dismissed US offers of broader negotiations between the two foes if Tehran first halts atomic work which Washington fears is aimed at building bombs. "This nation will not negotiate with anyone over its obvious and legal rights," Ahmadinejad told student members in the gathering. Sergei Lavrov reiterated Russia’s stand that only dialogue and not more penalties or military action as mooted in the United States, is the way to ease an escalating international stand-off over Iran’s nuclear plans. The Lavrov visit coincides with a crucial round of talks in Tehran between officials from Iran and the UN International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog on implementing an August deal meant to resolve questions about past secret Iranian nuclear activity.