Iran Insists on Diplomacy With the West - 伊朗堅特与西方外交談判

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Iran offered to help support the cease-fire in Lebanon in talks Saturday with U.N Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and insisted that diplomacy is the only way to resolve Tehran's nuclear dispute with the West.

The talks came two days after Iran defied a U.N. deadline to halt uranium enrichment, opening the door to consideration of sanctions to reinforce Western demands that the Islamic republic rein in its nuclear program and allay suspicions it is working on atomic weapons.

Before the Security Council discusses the issue, the European Union is taking another stab at diplomacy this week, and Annan said before arriving that he hoped sanctions could be avoided so as to keep from adding to tensions in "a region already subjected to a great stress."

The tone from Annan's first meetings in Tehran was positive. Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, described his talks with the U.N. chief as "constructive" and said "both sides agreed that problems should be solved through negotiations."

Shortly before Annan arrived, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated his insistence that the country won't give up its nuclear program, state-run television reported. Iran says the program has only a peaceful purpose - to use nuclear reactors to generate electrici