EU to offer Iran best civil nuclear technology
 

The European Union is ready to share the most sophisticated civilian nuclear technology with Iran if it agrees to halt uranium enrichment on its soil, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Monday.

But the initiative seemed likely to be rejected by Iran, and drew a reserved response from Washington.

The EU plans to offer Tehran enhanced incentives to halt sensitive nuclear activities that the West suspects are aimed at producing a bomb, coupled with a U.N. resolution threatening possible sanctions if it refuses.

"We could help you (Iran) with the best and most sophisticated technology," Solana told a news conference after EU foreign ministers met to discuss the package.

Without giving details, he said the European offer -- which it hopes to present to Iran at the end of the month -- would go beyond the comprehensive package of technological, economic and political sweeteners rejected by Tehran last August.

Diplomats said at the time that the original package included allowing Western companies to build nuclear power stations in Iran and supply fuel to them.

The 25-member bloc insisted in a joint statement that as a prerequisite for any incentive, Iran would have to agree to "suspend all enrichment related and reprocessing activity, including research and development."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had already pre-emptively ruled out any such trade-off on Sunday.