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TEHRAN — Iran said Monday that it would not abandon its nuclear program and urged President-elect Barack Obama to change America’s “carrot-and-stick policy” toward Iran, the official IRNA news agency reported.

Hassan Ghashghavi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, said that Iran, which has repeatedly refused to suspend its enrichment of uranium, would not change its nuclear policy. He added that Iran expected Mr. Obama to stick to his campaign promise to change the previous administration’s policy.

The comments came a day after the television broadcast of an interview in which Mr. Obama he said he would continue offering incentives to encourage Iran to cease enriching uranium but would seek to tighten economic sanctions on the country if it did not.

Enriched uranium is used as fuel in nuclear power plants; Iran maintains that energy production is the goal of its nuclear program. But more intensely enriched uranium can fuel a nuclear bomb; the West fears Iran is surreptitiously working toward such a weapon.

“What Mr. Obama said is the same old carrot-and-stick approach,” Mr. Ghashghav... >>>