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US slams Iranian response on nukes as 'unacceptable'
Washington assails Tehran vaguely-worded dismissal of latest incentives package, announces diplomats representing world powers to convene on Wednesday to discuss next move. State Department warns more sanctions could be ahead
Associated Press
Iran's response to an incentives package aimed at defusing a dispute over its nuclear program is unacceptable, US officials said Tuesday, making the prospects of new sanctions against the country more likely.
| Earlier Warning |
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| US, UK: Iran must give clear reply or face sanctions / Reuters |
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State Department warns Tehran it could face punitive measures if incentives offer rejected, says Iran 'has a clear choice of engagement or isolation.' UK joins call, demands 'unambiguous and positive' reply |
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Instead, the officials said it was a restatement of Tehran's earlier insistence on the right to conduct peaceful nuclear activities and essentially a transcription of portions of recent telephone conversations to that effect between Solana and chief Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili.
One US official familiar with the document described it as "more obfuscation and delay" and not a "real response" to the package, which was presented earlier this year by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
The officials, who said they were not surprised by the response, spoke on condition of anonymity because Solana's office has not yet characterized the Iranian reply.
In Brussels, an EU diplomat said the Iranian response would be analyzed and discussed "very soon" by Solana and senior diplomats from the six countries that made the offer - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
The State Department said those diplomats would hold a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the way ahead and the US officials said a discussion of new sanctions on Iran could begin as early as then.
Shortly after Solana's office received the document and forwarded copies by e-mail to the six governments involved, the department said that anything less than full acceptance of the package would force the grouping, known as the P5-plus-1, to seek new sanctions against Iran.
"We are looking for a clear, positive response from Iran, and in the absence of that we're going to have no choice but to pursue further measures against them," said spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos.
The offer was reiterated to Iran on July 19, when senior diplomats from the six nations and the European Union met in person with Jalili to set an informal two-week deadline for Iran to either accept or reject it.
The meeting was notable because the Bush administration broke with its long-standing policy and sent the third-ranking State Department diplomat to the session aimed at proving its seriousness about the package.
The United States and others accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Iran denies the charge, insisting its program is peaceful, but it has thus far refused to halt enriching uranium, which can produce the ingredients for a bomb.
Iran is currently under three sets of UN Security Council sanctions and could soon face a fourth unless it accepts the incentives package. In addition, the United States, the European Union and individual EU members have imposed their own unilateral sanctions against Iranian banks and other institutions.
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