TEHRAN, 20 June 2006 — Iran said yesterday it was preparing a counteroffer as officials rejected a key stipulation in a proposal by world powers for the Islamic republic to halt uranium enrichment ahead of nuclear talks.
A day after other regime officials implicitly rejected the international incentives offer — which hinges on Tehran’s suspension of sensitive nuclear fuel cycle work — by refusing any preconditions, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad weighed in with a similar statement.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran has always favored a just and equal dialogue with no preconditions,” state television quoted Ahmadinejad as saying in a meeting with Iran’s top officials and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The president said a counteroffer was being prepared to one presented earlier this month by the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, which he nevertheless described as “a step forward.”
“Our experts are examining the proposal, after the examination ... Iran’s views will be submitted to the other party,” he added.
Alaeddin Borujerdi, Iran’s head of the parliamentary foreign affairs commission, was cited by the press as predicting a starkly different counteroffer from the one proposed by world powers. “Our views are not like theirs. Our proposals will definitely have some differences,” Borujerdi said.
