By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
Iran maintains it has offered “positive and clear signals” to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program, but could face U.N. sanctions unless it reverses course and agrees to a verifiable halt to enrichment activities that can be a precursor to the manufacture of nuclear weapons.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday that Iran’s response is missing a “decisive sentence” on whether Tehran will suspend uranium enrichment and appears unsatisfactory.
“We are still examining it, but from everything that I hear we cannot be satisfied,” Merkel said in an interview with N24 television.
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy saids Iran must suspend uranium enrichment if it wants to return to negotiations, but Russia’s foreign ministry said it would continue to seek a negotiated solution and China appealed for patience and more dialogue.
The State Department acknowledged that Iran considered its proposal to be a serious one and promised to “review it.”
But the U.S. statement issued Wednesday went on to say that Iran’s response to a joint offer of U.S, and European trade and other benefits if the enrichment program was halted “falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council” – full and verifiable suspension of all uranium-enrichment activity.
“We are consulting closely, including with other members of the Security Council, on next steps,” it said.
The United Nations has set a deadline of next Thursday for a formal reply by Tehran.
President Bush met with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice at the White House and then discussed Iran’s proposal in a telephone call from U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Rice telephoned with Javier Solana, the senior European Union diplomat who oversees exchanges with Iran.
No account of either telephone conversation, nor of Rice’s meeting with the president, was provided.
The administration has told Iran that it will seek unspecified sanctions in the Security Council if Tehran does not step enriching uranium.
But by not rejecting Iran’s proposal outright, the administration indicated there may be a basis for dealing with long-held concerns that Tehran is developing nuclear weapons, an allegation the Iranians deny.
“The diplomats are continuing to look at it,” said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. “We’re working with our allies.”
The Iranians’ offer, which they portrayed as a major advance, appeared to be aimed at least in part at dividing the Security Council members with vetoes – the U.S., Britain and France on one side and Russia and China on the other.
Iran met its self-imposed deadline Tuesday for responding to the U.S.-European offer, which includes the possibility of U.S. help for civilian nuclear programs – but only if Iran stops uranium enrichment.
