Iran was yesterday considering an offer from world powers aimed at resolving the six-year nuclear crisis, but hopes of a breakthrough were dim after Tehran appeared to bluntly reject a key condition.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana delivered the offer on behalf of world powers to top Iranian officials on Saturday, saying it was “full of opportunities” for the Islamic republic.
The deal offers talks on a package of technological and economic incentives, so long as Tehran suspends uranium enrichment activities, which the West fears could be used to make an atomic bomb.
PHOTO: AFP
But barely hours into Solana’s visit, Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham announced that Tehran would reject any package that does not allow it to enrich uranium, the key sticking point in the crisis.
The hardline Kayhan newspaper, the mouthpiece of Iran’s clerical authorities, scoffed at the package and said Solana “was not here to negotiate but on a mission to threaten Iran”.
The aim of Solana’s visit was “to force Iran to give into illegal Western demands and to force Iranian officials to give into the American and Western allies’ blackmail,” it said.
US President George W. Bush, whose administration has led the campaign against Iran, made no effort to hide his belief that the package was effectively dead on arrival.
“I am disappointed that the leaders rejected this generous offer out of hand,” he said in Paris.
“A nuclear-armed Iran is incredibly destabilizing,” he said. “It would be a major blow to world peace.”
STILL LIFE
Solana, however, insisted there was still life in the package and urged Iran to give a “positive” answer.
“We are in front of a win-win situation,” he said, speaking alongside representatives of world powers spearheading efforts to find a solution to the crisis.
“The fact we are here together in Iran shows how seriously we regard this problem and how serious we are in trying to find a solution,” he said. “We need to restore trust and confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.”
Solana held meetings with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and top national security official Saeed Jalili. Both were keen to emphasize Iran’s answers would depend how the West responds to Tehran’s own package.
Iran last month launched a package that it described as an all-embracing attempt to solve the problems of the world, including the nuclear crisis. It suggests setting up consortiums to enrich uranium, including in Iran.
“To enter into an atmosphere for new negotiations, it is necessary to understand the new capacities of Iran in the region and the world,” the official IRNA news agency quoted Jalili as telling Solana.
Ali Larijani, the powerful new speaker of parliament who Jalili replaced as top nuclear negotiator last year, took a more conciliatory line.
“The parliament will study the package with alertness,” IRNA quoted him as saying.
The West wants Iran to halt enrichment over fears it could use the process to make an atomic bomb and the UN Security Council has slapped three sets of sanctions on Tehran over its defiance.
Tehran insists it has every right to enrich uranium to manufacture fuel for future power plants.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has been investigating the nuclear drive for over five years but has never been able to conclude whether it is peaceful.
A US State Department official warned that rejection of the package would mean “further isolation of Iran and would lead to further international sanctions.”
‘ALL OPTIONS’
The US has also never ruled out military action and Bush last week warned that “all options” were open.
The offer makes it clear that Iran must suspend enrichment if it is to enter into negotiations.
“The elements are proposed as topics for negotiations ... as long as Iran verifiably suspends its enrichment related and reprocessing activities,” the text reads.
The offer, a “refreshed” version of a June 2006 proposal, recognizes Iran’s “right to develop research, production and use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”
It also offers a range of technological and economic incentives, including support for the construction of light water reactors and help with supplying nuclear fuel.
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