G-8 Nations Want Iran's Answer by July 5

By ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press
June 29, 2006

MOSCOW (AP) - The United States, Russia and other industrial democracies said Thursday they expect Iran to reply next week to an international offer to bargain over Tehran's disputed nuclear program.

"We are disappointed in the absence of an official Iranian response to this positive proposal," said a statement from foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial nations. "We expect to hear a clear and substantive Iranian response to these proposals" at a meeting scheduled July 5 between the European Union's foreign minister and Iran's nuclear negotiator.

Iran has told the EU it will reply at that session, a U.S. official said, but it is not clear whether Iran will give a definitive "yes" or "no." Tehran could ask for changes, or for preliminary talks before any negotiations over the proposal could begin.

The clerical regime has sent conflicting signals so far about whether it will accept the package of economic incentives and other rewards in exchange for shelving disputed nuclear activities that the West fears could lead to a bomb. In a major policy shift, the Bush administration has offered to join the talks, which would be the first direct, high-level contact between the United States and Iran in more than a quarter century.

The statement said the international coalition that made the offer to Iran "will assess the situation before mid-July." The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that refers to a hastily scheduled meeting among Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts from Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China on July 12 in Paris.

That meeting will immediately precede a separate gathering of President Bush and other leaders of the Group of Eight industrial nations on July 15-17 in Russia, where the Iranian situation is expected to be a major topic.

The G-8 diplomats also discussed a range of pressing issues. They condemned the abduction of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip and asked the Palestinian government to "take immediate measures" to free him. And the group asked Israel "to exercise utmost restraint in the current crisis. The detention of elected members of the Palestinian government and Legislature raises particular concern."

Israeli troops arrested dozens of ministers and lawmakers from the Palestinians' elected Hamas leadership Thursday.

The United States has not issued its own separate response, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed on to the joint statement, which contains coded criticism of Israel.

At a news conference following lengthy meetings with the diplomats from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Canada and Japan, Rice noted the call for restraint from Israel.

"With restraint, perhaps, we can get back to a place where there are hopes again for a peace process," Rice said.

On Iran, the G-8 diplomats called Tehran's nuclear program "a source of international concern," and endorsed the offer to Iran to accept economic incentives in return for swearing off disputed aspects of the program, which Tehran claims is peaceful.

"An agreement of this sort would allow the Iranian people to enjoy the benefits of modern civil nuclear power and would bring Iran many other long-term political and economic advantages," the G-8 ministers' statement said.

The ministers also discussed world hotspots including North Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. And they issued a call to international donors for new aid.

On Iraq, they offered support to the new permanent Iraqi government and commended its new national reconciliation initiative, which some U.S. politicians have criticized as too accommodating toward insurgents.

Russian Prime Minster Sergey Lavrov did not directly respond to a question about whether United Nations economic sanctions would follow if Iran fails to reply or rejects the proposed bargain. Russian and China, permanent veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council, have opposed harsh measures for their commercial partner Tehran in the past, but U.S. diplomats say those nations are expected to cooperate if the Iran case gets that far.

Lavrov said sanctions were not a part of Thursday's talks

"We did not discuss anything beyond the offer," he told reporters.

The meeting between the European Union's Javier Solana and Iran's Ali Larijani on July 5 will be the first since the EU official presented the incentive package to the Iranian negotiator in Tehran on June 6. Larijani said then that the proposals contained "positive steps" but talks were needed to clear up ambiguities.