Iran says positive atmosphere helps nuclear row

TEHRAN - Iran said today a "positive atmosphere" had been created that could help resolve a dispute over Iran's nuclear programme but did not say when Tehran would respond to an offer made by world powers to end the standoff.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki also said any deal would need talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council -- the United States, China, Russia, Britain and France -- plus Germany, which originally presented the package.

The six states offered Iran incentives to halt uranium enrichment, a process the West believes Iran is using to make atomic weapons despite Iranian denials. Tehran faces possible sanctions if it rejects the deal that was offered on June 6.

Western officials fear Iran may stall a decision past an unofficial July deadline to buy time to perfect enrichment technology and expand the programme to make it a fait accompli.

"The positive atmosphere that has been created ... could create the best opportunity to pave the way to reaching an understanding," Mottaki said in comments about the atomic dispute, broadcast on state television.

Senior Iranian officials, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have recently made more upbeat comments about the package but have not given any indication that Iran is ready to give up enrichment, the crux of the proposal.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, speaking at a news conference in Copenhagen on Sunday, welcomed the positive noises coming out of Tehran.

"I believe that we've all noticed that the comments so far have been constructive and I hope that they will come and sit around the table with all concerned and find a solution," he said. "In my judgement the only solution is a negotiated one."

But some Iran officials have suggested that Iran may only be ready to negotiate over plans for industrial-scale enrichment.

"We want negotiations without any preconditions," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told a weekly news conference. The term "precondition" usually refers to the demand that Iran stop enrichment as a prerequisite for talks.

"It is America which has put a precondition and has the illogical demand which limits the scope of the negotiations," Asefi said.

Under Iran's system of clerical rule, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say in state matters and last week he said making nuclear fuel remained Iran's objective.

Although there is no official deadline, Western diplomats say they hope for a reply by the time heads of state from the Group of Eight countries assemble in Russia on July 15.

Mottaki gave no indication of when Iran would respond.

"About the package, the assessment has started with precision and seriousness. By God's will, by the end of the assessment, we will first inform our European counterparts and then the public," he said.

- REUTERS