Germany says cannot wait until Aug 22 for Iran

Reuters: Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday it was inconceivable that the six powers that made an offer of incentives to Iran to encourage it give up uranium enrichment would wait until August 22 for a response. BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday it was inconceivable that the six powers that made an offer of incentives to Iran to encourage it give up uranium enrichment would wait until August 22 for a response.

“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 conference on disarmament.

“I hope a decision will be made soon in Tehran. I can’t imagine we would wait until August 22,” he said, referring to a recent statement by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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 mid-July meeting of G8 leaders.

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

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.