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June 15, 2008
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Sunday
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Jamadi-us-Sani 10, 1429
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EU offered ‘everything’ on N-tech to Iran: UK
By M. Ziauddin
LONDON, June 14: Making public the salient features of the package of incentives offered to Iran on Saturday for curbing its nuclear programme which Tehran has already rejected, a senior British foreign office official said here the package also consisted of a letter signed by the foreign ministers of UK, France, Germany, Russia, China and the US secretary of state.
“And attached to the package offered by EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana in Tehran today is a short paper which enclosed the offer of a package of measures we would be prepared to discuss with Iran if a negotiating process began on the Iranian nuclear programme, ” the official said.
The offer encapsulates a number of ‘significant’ proposals “which will help Iran acquire everything it needed for a modern nuclear power industry, including technological and financial assistance, legally binding fuel supply guarantees and cooperation on radioactive waste”.
Other ‘potential benefits’ included political contacts and cooperation, regional security dialogue, steps towards mobilising trade, economic and energy relations and agricultural and aviation development and education assistance.
The official said that Iran had also sent its own proposal and “we have said we are willing to discuss those proposals as well once Iran suspends its enrichment and enrichment-related reprocessing activities and comes to negotiating table.” He said the offer builds on the earlier offer made in June 2006 and the additional element is “the covering letter emphasising commitment to negotiations with Iran”.
The letter makes the point that “we are not seeking to deny Iran its right to benefit from nuclear power, as Iran has claimed, but it also makes the point that its pursuit of enrichment, for which it currently has no civilian need, poses a potentially great threat to international peace and security”.
Explaining what he meant by regional cooperation with Iran on security, he said “the region we are talking about is Gulf, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are talking about the region in which Iran is situated.”
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