"Why did we surrender to the demands of the Europeans and the West?" asked Akbar Alami, a member of the Majlis foreign policy and national security commission, in a debate carried live on state radio.

"I have even heard that one member of our delegation to the Paris negotiations told the Europeans that Iran would guarantee that it would not leave the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) if the Westerners did not take our case to the United Nations Security Council," he added.

"These sort of approaches undermine Iran's sovereignty."

He was referring to talks last month between Iran and EU's "big three" -- France, Germany and Britain -- during which the Europeans continued their effort to have Iran renounce its work on the sensitive nuclear fuel cycle.

Iran, however, has stood by its right to enrich uranium, insisting that is is legal under the NPT if for peaceful purposes.

Pending the completion an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) probe, Iran has nevertheless agreed to suspend enrichment and has signed the additional protocol to the NPT that allows reinforced UN inspections.

But another conservative deputy, Ali Ahmadi, asked Kharazi why Iran had agreed to allow tougher inspections under the additional protocol while the text has not yet been ratified by parliament.

The parliamentary commission on national security and foreign affairs has also been working on a bill to force the reformist government to resume uranium enrichment -- something that would certainly spark a crisis at the

But in parliament, Kharazi defended his handling of the dossier, and said overall responsibility in the negotiations was with Hassan Rowhani, a powerful conservative cleric who heads Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

"The nuclear issue in Iran gets special treatment. Dr Hassan Rowhani, a well-known politician, is heading the case, while the foreign ministry and the atomic organisation are helping him out," Kharazi asserted.

"The Islamic republic of Iran will never give up its right to peaceful nuclear technology, since we are not seeking production of nuclear weapons," he added.

He also asserted it was "parliament which has the final say on the ratification or the refusal of the protocol".

The Islamic republic's parliament fell into conservative hands after most reformists were barred from contesting Majlis elections held last February.

All rights reserved. Copyright 2003 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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