Tuesday, 13 June 2006LONDON, June 13 (IranMania) - Iran is open to all "constructive and reasonable" negotiations on its nuclear program but will not accept any preconditions, its main nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Tuesday, AFP reported.
Larijani, speaking in Algiers, again rejected the offer made by European and US authorities to open talks leading to an incentive package in exchange for a suspension of uranium enrichment activities.
"The issue of uranium enrichment constitutes a major part of those negotiations, so if this part was eliminated then the negotiations would be stripped of all meaning," he said.
Iran however accepted "all constructive and reasonable negotiations (without) any preconditions", he added.
Larijani arrived Monday from Cairo where he had stressed that Tehran would not accept any "threats" from the West over the nuclear issue.
The five permanent UN Security Council members, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China, and Germany last week offered Iran a package of incentives in return for reining in its atomic energy program, which the West suspects masks a drive to develop nuclear weapons.
Suspending uranium enrichment was the pre-condition for talks on the benefits package.
The powers threatened to push for UN sanctions if Tehran failed to comply.
European Union foreign policy Javier Solana, who handed the EU-drafted proposal to Iranian authorities last week, said on Monday he expected a response this week.
"I told Mr. Larijani we expect a response in a reasonable period of time," he said, adding that this meant about two weeks from the time they met, or "any time now .. about this week," he said in Luxembourg.
The United States has also said Iran has "weeks and not months" to respond to the proposal.
Algeria, where Larijani met with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which is preparing to issue a statement that could back Iran in the nuclear standoff with the West.
Sixteen of the 40 countries in the NAM are represented on the 35-member board of governors of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Tuesday, June 13, 2006 - T®2005 IranMania.com
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Tuesday, 13 June 2006
Iran
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