TEHRAN, 17 July 2006 — Iran said yesterday that a Western incentives package aimed at persuading Tehran to stop enriching uranium was an “acceptable basis” for talks, and invited world powers to enter detailed negotiations over its nuclear program.
“We consider this package an appropriate basis, an acceptable basis (for talks),” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
“Now is an appropriate opportunity for Iran and Europe to enter detailed negotiations,” he continued. Asefi called on the eight major world powers meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia, to choose dialogue with Iran.
“Dialogue is the correct path. We can achieve acceptable results in this path. The path of extremism and threats is not acceptable — it won’t work,” he said.
“The G-8 has two options ahead: One is the path of logic and the other the path of extremism. We hope the G-8 group will place logical recommendations on its agenda,” Asefi said.
“In that case, we will be ready for any kind of cooperation and dialogue,” he added.
Frustrated world powers agreed Wednesday to send Iran to the UN Security Council for possible punishment, saying Tehran had given no sign it would bargain in earnest over its nuclear ambitions. But Asefi said yesterday that “sending the dossier to the UN Security Council means blocking and rejecting talks.”
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said talks could take place if Iran responded positively to the offer.
Tehran publicly insists it wants to talk but has refused to give up enrichment. Western diplomats said Iran’s top nuclear negotiator gave no sign he was interested in negotiating when he met the European Union foreign policy chief on Tuesday.
“There is, indeed, a very good proposal on the table that could be a basis for negotiations. There is also a path ahead to the Security Council on which we are now launched,” Rice said, adding Iran had failed to respond positively.
“If the Iranians want to respond positively, I would hope that they would do so through the channel that is established between the six (nations) and the government of Iran,” she said in St. Petersburg.
Rice said Iran should give a “concrete and authoritative answer.”
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has acted for the six nations. He last met Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani on Tuesday, a meeting the European Union said was disappointing.
Iran has said specialized committees in key state agencies are studying the June 6 offer by the United States, Britain, China, France, Russia and Germany, and that it will formally respond to the proposals in late August.
The Lebanon crisis and the nuclear aims of Iran and North Korea dominated talks yesterday at the annual summit of the so-called Group of Eight leaders.
Diplomats have said recent meetings with Iran have gone nowhere, and that it appeared Tehran hoped to buy time or exploit potential divisions among the six powers that offered the incentives package.
It includes economic incentives and a provision for the United States to offer Iran some nuclear technology, lift some sanctions and join direct negotiations.
