IRAN: Tehran's chief negotiator said proposals yesterday by six world powers to end a dispute over Iran's nuclear fuel enrichment had positive points but also some "ambiguities" that must be removed.
The proposals, which have not been made public but include incentives and penalties, seek to persuade Iran to give up enriching uranium, which the West fears will be used to build atomic bombs. Tehran says its nuclear aims are purely civilian.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana presented Iran's chief negotiator Ali Larijani with the package, agreed by the United States, Russia, China and the "EU Three" - Britain, France and Germany.
"The proposals had some positive steps in them and some ambiguities which should be removed," Mr Larijani said.
"We hope, after we study the proposal in detail, we will have another round of talks and negotiations to achieve a balanced and logical conclusion," he said.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after meeting Mr Solana later yesterday that he expected Iran to decide on the package by the end of June, when foreign ministers from the Group of Eight industrialised nations are due to meet.
The US, Iran's arch foe which has been at the forefront of efforts to pressure the Islamic republic to give up enrichment, said it was heartening that Iran was taking the incentives package seriously.
But Washington reiterated that the Iranian government needed to suspend nuclear enrichment activities before any direct talks.
Progress will depend on overcoming deep mutual mistrust.
Tehran has impeded investigations by the UN atomic energy agency that have pointed to military links with nuclear work and possible secret activity, although no hard evidence of diversions into bomb-making has been found.
For its part, Washington, which broke ties with Tehran in 1980, says it wants a diplomatic solution but refuses to rule out military action.
"If the Iranians agree to suspend enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, then we'll be able to discuss more openly what the incentives are and we certainly hope that that's the case," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters travelling with President Bush.
Iran has refused to give up uranium enrichment, a process that can be used to make fuel for nuclear power stations or, if enriched sufficiently, material for bombs. Iran says enrichment is a national right.
Iran's IRNA news agency said foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki emphasised to Mr Solana what he said was Iran's right to research nuclear technology. "This issue should be very clear and without any ambiguity in the negotiations," he said.
Iranian officials have hinted Tehran might negotiate over its plans for industrial-scale enrichment but have insisted on keeping research activities without specifying how many centrifuges to enrich uranium that would require.
Among those with Mr Solana in Tehran was deputy Russian foreign minister Sergei Kisliak, the first time Russia has actively joined the EU Three in confronting Iran since the European powers began negotiating almost three years ago.
German chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao also agreed in a phone conversation yesterday that Iran should return to talks to resolve the dispute.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, will issue a new report on Iran's atomic fuel programme tomorrow, an IAEA diplomat in Vienna said.