Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Monday that he would not
give Iran's response to the six-nation package over Iran's nuclear issue in his
coming meeting with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, local daily Tehran
Times reported Tuesday.
Larijani made the remarks to reporters after his meeting with visiting Iraqi
Parliament Speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani.
The meeting with Solana was meant to talk about the ways to solve the dispute
in Iran's nuclear program, Larijani was quoted as saying, adding "the upcoming
meeting will mark the beginning of our negotiations with Europe."
"We welcome any constructive and logical proposals that will help us proceed
with talks," he said.
Diplomats said that Larijani and Solana would meet in Brussels on Wednesday.
Western powers have recently mounted pressures on Iran, asking the country to
formally respond in Solana's meeting with Larijani to the six-nation package
which demands Iran suspend uranium enrichment activities in return for economic
and political incentives.
"We are looking forward to a clear and substantive Iranian response to these
proposals at the planned meeting," foreign ministers of the Group of Eight
industrialized countries said in a statement in Moscow last Thursday.
But Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki immediately responded in New
York that Tehran would not give a response to the proposals before August.
On June 6, Solana offered Iran the incentive package concerning the Iranian
nuclear issue, which was agreed on by the five permanent members of the UN
Security Council plus Germany.
The proposals include both incentives aimed at persuading Iran to suspend
uranium enrichment and possible sanctions if Iran does not comply.
The United States has accused Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons
under a civilian front, a charge categorically denied by Tehran.