Iranians stonewalling on nuke issue in incentive package

Last update - 13:26 05/07/2008    

 

 Iranian response to int'l incentive package sidesteps nuclear issue  By Reuters and Haaretz Service

Iran has officially responded to the package of incentives to halt its nuclear program, the New York Times reported on Saturday, but officials said it ignores the key issues.

 

Officials said that the response to the proposal does not address the request of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and the European Union that Iran suspend its uranium enrichment activities.

 

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said in the response that Iran would be willing to engage in comprehensive negotiations with the EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and the world powers which offered the incentives.

"The time for negotiating from the condescending position of inequality has come to an end," the Iranian minister said, according to the New York Times. Sources involved in the diplomatic effort stressed that he failed to address any of the proposals the incentive package includes.

 

Also, officials said, Mottaki called the sanctions imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council "illegal" and said they were creating "lack of trust," resulting from "the duplicitous behavior of certain big powers."

 

The governments of the global powers involved declined to comment on the substance of Mottaki's letter.

 

A White House spokesperson said the U.S. intended to study the response and discuss it with Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China before responding formally.

 

Western officials expressed mixed feelings about Iran's response. "There is nothing new in it," said one, but others remained hopeful, citing the fact it was not a downright rejection of the incentives.

 

Government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham told a weekly news conference that "Iran's stance has not changed [on uranium enrichment] and we are ready to hold talks on the common points of the P5+1 incentives package and Iran's package."