TEHRAN, June 3: Iran said on Saturday it was awaiting a new international proposal to end the crisis over its nuclear programme but refused to suspend work on uranium enrichment.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was expected in Tehran to submit the proposal for fresh multilateral talks and a package of incentives.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, who agreed to the package on Thursday, say it is conditional on Tehran first halting enrichment.

“Negotiations must be without preconditions,” Mr Mottaki said. “No condition for negotiations is acceptable, especially the condition that has been set.”

But he said Iran “needed to examine these proposals” before giving its formal response.

In Brussels, Solana’s spokeswoman confirmed plans for a visit to Tehran.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also received a call from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in which he also stressed the country’s readiness for dialogue on the nuclear issue “in fair, equal and unconditional circumstances without any threat”, Irna news agency reported.

Mr Ahmadinejad is to give a speech Saturday night amid the commemoration of the death in 1989 of Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

In Kuwait, the top US Middle East envoy, David Welch, called on Iran to “make the right choice,” saying Washington has no “thirst for a military option.

Military action “is not a good idea, especially for the Iranians. We hope they make the right choice, so we are left with the positive track,” Mr Welch told a press conference.— AFP