Germany urges Iran to respond on nuclear offer

BERLIN - Germany's foreign minister said today it was inconceivable that the six powers that made an offer of incentives to Iran to encourage it to give up uranium enrichment would wait another two months for a response.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week Iran would deliver its answer on the package by August 22, prompting US President George W. Bush to accuse Tehran of dragging its feet.

"They have had the offer for two weeks already," Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of a Social Democrat (SPD) disarmament conference.

"I hope a decision will be made soon in Tehran. I can't imagine we would wait until August 22," he said.

A package of incentives designed to resolve the standoff with the Islamic republic was drawn up by the six powers -- Germany and the United Nation's Security Council permanent members France, Britain, the United States, Russia and China.

The offer was presented to the Iranians by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on June 6 and the United States has called for a response by a July 15-17 summit of leaders from the Group of Eight (G8) industrial nations.

Germany and other Western countries suspect that Iran is trying to develop atomic weapons. Tehran says it only wants to harness nuclear technology for use in power plants.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met Steinmeier in Berlin on Sunday. Afterwards, Mottaki said there were "unclear points" in the offer and said Iran had questions.

Steinmeier said Solana would hopefully answer all Iran's queries later this week.

"I'm pleased that in the course of the week there will be another meeting between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and the EU's high representative Javier Solana. I hope that the allegedly unclear points can be cleared up with comments from Mr Solana," he said.

The head of the world's socialist parties, former Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, said after talks in Tehran that Iran sees the latest package as a historical turning point.

"There is a genuine sense from the Iranian side this is a historical moment," the president of the Socialist International told reporters after his talks with Mottaki and Larijani. "They like the idea of talks, that Americans could be there." Steinmeier said earlier at the SPD disarmament conference that resolving the crisis with Iran was vital to prevent a Cold War-style nuclear arms race from developing in the Middle East.

He said the same went for Asia if a clash with North Korea, which claims to have developed atomic weapons and is believed to be preparing a long-range missile test, is not resolved.

"If there's no resolution to the North Korea and Iran conflicts, then there will be a new nuclear arms race in the Middle East and Asia," he said.

In the case of Iran, it also concerned the protection of Israel, Steinmeier said. President Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and has repeatedly expressed doubt that the Holocaust happened -- a crime in Germany.

After his weekend meeting with Mottaki, Steinmeier reiterated that the six powers would only open full-scale negotiations with Iran on the terms of the offer if Tehran first suspended its enrichment programme.

In exchange for an enrichment suspension, the six countries have agreed to halt work on a UN Security Council resolution that would open the door to political and economic sanctions.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), also spoke at the SPD conference and said the UN Security Council had not had a good track record on dealing with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

"If I look at the action in the case of North Korea ... you ended up with North Korea not even being discussed by the Security Council and with North Korea walking away from the (NPT) without the council even meeting to discuss the implications of that decision," ElBaradei said.

"We ended up with North Korea saying 'we have nuclear weapons'. That record over the last 15 years is not one that makes one very optimistic," he said.

The IAEA board of governors transferred the North Korea case to the Security Council in early 2003 but never did anything with it, preferring to leave the issue to the "6-party" talks.

In the case of Iran, the council has been deadlocked since the IAEA referred Tehran to it earlier this year.

- REUTERS