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US, Allies Set Deadline for Iran Nuke Talks

Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2006-06-29 17:59.

MSNBC News Services

Russian official says G-8 nations expect a response by July 5.
Moscow - The Group of Eight industrialized nations told Iran on Thursday to give a "clear and substantive response" next week to an offer by major powers over its nuclear program.

Iran has still not said whether it will accept a package of incentives given to it on June 6 by the five permanent, veto-wielding U.N. Security Council members - the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - and Germany.

The United States has accused Iran of having a secret program to build nuclear weapons. Tehran denies the charge, saying its nuclear program is solely for power generation.

A statement issued by the G8 foreign ministers said: "We are disappointed by the absence of an official Iranian response to this positive proposal.

"We expect to hear a clear and substantive response to these proposals at the planned meeting of (EU foreign policy chief) Javier Solana ... and (Iranian negotiator) Ali Larijani on July 5 and to bring these discussions to a rapid conclusion."

The statement came after talks between U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and foreign ministers from Russia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain who were in Moscow to prepare for a G8 summit next month.

The talks focused on Iran, but the G8 also expressed concern about the arrest of Hamas cabinet members by Israeli forces who were preparing to widen an offensive in the Gaza Strip aimed at freeing an abducted soldier.

On the nuclear incentives, Tehran has said it will respond by Aug. 22. The United States and the European Union have suggested they would like a response before the G8 summit on July 15-17.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu also urged Iran on Thursday to respond "as soon as possible" to the offer.

Next Steps

An EU official with knowledge of the G8 talks told Reuters the initial session in a 19th-century former merchant's mansion in Moscow focused on Iran and the next steps to take.

Talks on the incentives package are conditional on Iran freezing uranium enrichment and answering questions about its program. Iran has refused to suspend its enrichment work.

But there were signs of possible divisions among Western powers after Germany's defense minister said in an interview with Reuters that Iran should be allowed to enrich uranium for power generation under close monitoring by U.N. inspectors.

The United States, which along with Britain has argued for a long-term suspension of uranium enrichment, contacted the German government to clarify the comments. A German government spokesman said Berlin stood by the June 6 call for a suspension of enrichment in order to enable talks.

Russia, which has resisted U.S. talk of imposing U.N. sanctions on Iran if it does not accept, is unlikely to want to see the summit it is hosting overshadowed by Iran.

The Kremlin is pushing for energy security to be the main topic at the summit in Russia's second city of St Petersburg.

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