Iran leader attacks West's 'lies'

Condoleezza Rice warned Iran's president he could be isolated

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused Western nations of hypocrisy and of peddling a "big lie" over its nuclear programme.

Visiting Indonesia, he said that while expressing concern, the West was expanding its own weapons programme.

The Indonesian president offered to help mediate in the crisis.

Top powers have asked European states to try again to produce a package of incentives to persuade Iran to stop its uranium enrichment programme.

Britain, France and Germany tried for months to reach a deal with Iran before talks collapsed in January, with Iran insisting on its right to produce nuclear power.

Tehran insists its programme is peaceful, while Western countries suspect it is secretly pursuing nuclear weapons.

European countries will now try to come up with another offer.

Their representatives are examining with Chinese, Russian and US counterparts "how to show Iran that there is a path that could lead them to a civil nuclear programme that would be acceptable to the international community", US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.

"We are also, however, very clear that there is a path that if Iran continues down it, is going to lead them to isolation," she added after talks at the United Nations.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said discussions would include "ambitious proposals, first in the area of civilian nuclear energy, then in the commercial domain, in the technological domain and, why not, in the area of security".

US efforts to produce a binding UN Security Council resolution ordering Iran to cease enrichment have so far failed.

Resistance call

Mr Ahmadinejad, who earlier this week sent a letter to US President George W Bush denouncing his foreign policy, again asserted that every country had the right to develop a nuclear programme for peaceful purposes, and attacked the West.

"They pretend that they are concerned about the nuclear programme of the Islamic Republic of Iran. And this is a big lie," he said.

"I'll tell you, they are not concerned with nuclear programmes... They are themselves engaged in nuclear activities and they are expanding day by day. They test new brands of weapons of mass destruction every day."

He accused "big powers" of trying to monopolise modern science and technology in order to sell it to less developed countries at a high price.

He called for resistance from developing countries.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he believed "Iran's nuclear programme is peaceful", that diplomacy could solve the crisis, and that Indonesia was willing to help look for a solution.