Iran Won’t Respond to Offer ‘Til August

06/21/2006

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that Iran will respond in mid-August to the package of incentives on its nuclear program offered by the West, but President Bush accused Tehran of dragging its feet.

“We are studying the proposals. Hopefully, we will present our views about the package by mid-August,” Ahmadinejad told a crowd in western Iran in a speech broadcast live on state television.

Speaking at an annual U.S.-European Union summit in Vienna, Austria, Bush said that the mid-August timetable “seems like an awfully long time” to wait for an answer.

“It shouldn’t take the Iranians that long to analyze what’s a reasonable deal,” Bush said.


The offer, presented by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana during a June 6 visit, provides a range of incentives for Iran to impose a moratorium on uranium enrichment, a process that can produce material for nuclear generators or for weapons.

If Iran rejects the deal, Bush has warned that it can expect U.N. Security Council action and progressively stronger political and economic sanctions. The U.S. and Europe are pressing for a quick answer.

If it accepts the package, Tehran has to suspend its uranium enrichment entirely before the six powers will start negotiations on a framework for its nuclear program.

Such a step would be politically difficult. Since Iran resumed enrichment this year after a three-year suspension, Ahmadinejad has repeatedly vowed never to halt it again.

Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel stressed U.S.-European cooperation in various areas, including the efforts to persuade Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions.

“Iran has to make the right choice,” Schuessel said, adding that the European community welcomes U.S. involvement, particularly the recent historic signal that the United States is ready to join negotiations if Iran suspends enrichment activities.