Iran finds some atomic incentives unacceptable
(AP)
Updated: 2006-06-11 16:20
Iran believes some proposals from six world powers trying to persuade it to
stop its atomic fuel work are unacceptable and Tehran will offer its own
amendments, a Foreign Ministry official said on Sunday.
He did not specify what changes to the package Iran might seek but Tehran has
always rejected the central crux of the proposal -- that it should give up
enriching uranium. Without a concession on this, the deal will fail.
"We should study the package offered. We should classify it. There are points
which are acceptable. There are points which are ambiguous and there are points
that we believe should not exist," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi
said.
"We have received the package, we should give our views in response to that
package and we will offer our proposals," he told a weekly news conference.
Iran has been referred to the U.N. Security Council, where it could face
sanctions, after failing to convince the international community that its atomic
scientists are only looking to build power stations and not weapons.
The United States, France, Germany, Britain, Russia and China have agreed a
set of incentives for Iran on the condition that it stops making nuclear fuel,
something Tehran has repeatedly said it will never do.
Among the incentives, which Western diplomats say include offers of a
light-water reactor and a facility for storing atomic fuel, is a very rare U.S.
offer to join the European Union's direct talks with Iran.
Although Asefi's remarks are a strong indication Iran is unhappy with the
terms offered, the Foreign Ministry does not have the last word on nuclear
issues.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted nuclear matters to the
Supreme National Security Council and appointed Ali Larijani as chief
negotiator.
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