WORLD / Middle East

Iran to make counteroffer to West
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-11 10:30

Tehran will make a counteroffer in response to a Western incentive package aimed at persuading Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, the foreign minister said Saturday.


Iranian Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, speaks with media during a joint press conference with his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Zahar, unseen, in Tehran, Iran, Saturay, June 10, 2006. Iran will make a counteroffer in response to a Western incentive package aimed at persuading Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, Mottaki said Saturday. [AP]

The counteroffer may be a variation of the proposal made by Europe, the United States, China and Russia or could be an entirely new package, Manouchehr Mottaki said, according to the state-run news agency IRNA.

"We hope that Iran's real proposal, which might come within a modified or new package, will be examined carefully by Europe," he said.

He did not elaborate on how the Iranian proposal might differ from the Western package.

"We intend to take steps toward a comprehensive understanding that considers the rights of one side, Iran, and resolves the concerns of the other side at the same time," Mottaki said. "Iran has begun examination of the European package and it will officially response to the European side."

Meanwhile, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, briefed Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Tehran's position on the proposal during talks in Cairo, a statement from the Egyptian side said. Larijani and Abul Gheit were to meet again Sunday, it said.

The package put forward by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany aims to restart negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

It included some significant concessions by Washington aimed at enticing Tehran to freeze enrichment. The United States would provide Iran with peaceful nuclear technology, lift some sanctions and join direct negotiations with Tehran.

The package also pulls back from demands that Iran outright scrap its enrichment program as an initial condition for negotiations, seeking a suspension instead. However, it also contains the implicit threat of U.N. sanctions if Iran remains defiant.
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