Posted on 06/28/2006 9:12:23 PM PDT by nuconvert
Iran, EU to meet to discuss incentives
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Wed Jun 28, 2006
Iran's top nuclear negotiator and the European Union's foreign policy chief plan to meet on July 5 to discuss a package of incentives from key global powers to try to persuade Iran to roll back its uranium enrichment program, a U.N. official said.
The EU's Javier Solana said last Wednesday he had a good phone conversation with Iran's Ali Larijani and would probably meet him this week. That meeting is now expected to take place next Wednesday and will probably be somewhere in Europe, the U.N. official said.
An EU diplomat confirmed the July 5 date and said an announcement would be made at Thursday's meeting in Moscow of G-8 foreign ministers. The location of the meeting will be announced closer to the date, the diplomat said.
The U.N. official and the EU diplomat both spoke on condition of anonymity because no official announcement has been made.
The Larijani-Solana meeting would be the first since the EU official presented the incentive package to the Iranian negotiator in Tehran on June 6. Larijani said then that the proposals contained "positive steps" but talks were needed to clear up ambiguities. A meeting with Solana in Europe in mid-June to discuss Iranian concerns was canceled — but those concerns are now expected to be taken up at next week's meeting.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the government will not respond officially until at least mid-August. Europe is pressing for a much quicker reply and U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States wants a response before Thursday's Group of Eight ministerial meeting in Moscow.
Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was quoted by the German weekly magazine Stern on Wednesday as saying his country may respond before the Group of Eight summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, which starts July 15, "if we clear up some open questions before then."
On Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Iran to speed up its response during his second meeting with Mottaki in less than a week.
Both focused on the negotiations aimed at ensuring the international community that Iran's nuclear ambitions are peaceful — as Tehran maintains — and not geared toward producing nuclear weapons.
Mottaki refused to talk to reporters at U.N. headquarters.
But U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general "reiterated his suggestion that Iran should speed up its response to the proposals" put forward by the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.
Just before he met the Iranian minister, Annan told reporters that after his June 22 meeting with Mottaki in Geneva he came away with the impression that the Iranians would not give their answer before the Group of Eight summit. Thursday's foreign ministers meeting in Moscow is being held to prepare for the summit.
The package seeks to persuade Tehran to impose a long-term moratorium on uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material for nuclear generators or bombs. In return, it offers incentives including peaceful Western nuclear technology, the lifting of some sanctions, trade opportunities, U.S. spare parts for Iran's aging fleet of jetliners, and U.S. participation in negotiations with Tehran.
The package contains an implicit threat of U.N. sanctions if Iran rejects the package.
Mottaki spoke Wednesday to a U.N. conference aimed at curbing the illicit trade in small arms and said Iran's chief security focus will remain fighting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, especially the threat posed by Israel.
"Fighting proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and combatting the threats posed by those possessing those weapons, particularly the Zionist regime, will always remain our greater goal," he said.
He said Iran will promote peace and security "on the basis of justice and free from any and all discriminatory and double-standard considerations."
The only incentive that will work with Iran is...
peace...
or death.....
I'm going to take a guess, that the U.S. wanted to put a deadline in writing with the original offer, but were outvoted.
The regime is enjoying this, because for them, it's a power-trip. They're in control and loving it.
Oh yeah...I so trust Solana...
Incentive is newspeak for ransom.
Islam grants, even instructs its followers to LIE in order to further the political-religious expansion system.
Verify, verify, verify. Never trust a muslim.
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