By ANNE GEARAN, AP Diplomatic Writer
Associated Press – A U.S. official said Iran has told the European Union it will reply at a July 5 meeting between the EU’s foreign minister and Iran’s nuclear negotiator. But it is not certain whether Iran will give a definitive answer, ask for changes, or seek preliminary talks before formal negotiations begin.
At the United Nations, Iran’s foreign minister said his country still had questions about the proposal and would need until August to respond. The murky responses marked the latest instance in which Iranian leaders have flashed mixed signals about negotiations over their nuclear efforts.
"We are disappointed in the absence of an official Iranian response to this positive proposal," said a statement from foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrial nations. "We expect to hear a clear and substantive Iranian response to these proposals" at the July 5 meeting, the statement said.
The diplomats’ statement was short of an ultimatum to Iran, but it reflects growing international frustration with Tehran’s inconclusive response to a carrot-and-stick package presented earlier this month.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran is seriously and carefully reviewing the proposed package," Iran’s foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said at the United Nations. "I’ve said that such response will be in August."
Other Iranian leaders have also said previously that there would be no reply until August, which officials from the U.S. and other countries have dismissed as too slow.
The deal offers Iran economic incentives and other rewards in exchange for shelving disputed nuclear activities that the West fears could lead to construction of a bomb. The Bush administration has offered to join the talks, which would be the first direct, high-level contact between the United States and Iran in more than a quarter century.
The statement from the industrial nations said the allies who made the offer to Iran "will assess the situation before mid-July." The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that refers to a hastily scheduled July 12 meeting in Paris involving Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterparts from the European Union, Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China.
That meeting will immediately precede a separate gathering of President Bush and other leaders of the G-8 nations in Russia, where the Iranian situation is expected to top the agenda.
The G-8 diplomats also condemned the abduction of an Israeli soldier in the Gaza Strip and asked the Palestinian government to "take immediate measures" to free him. The group asked Israel "to exercise utmost restraint in the current crisis. The detention of elected members of the Palestinian government and Legislature raises particular concern," the statement said.
Israeli troops arrested dozens of ministers and lawmakers from the Palestinians’ elected Hamas leadership Thursday.
At a news conference following meetings with diplomats from Russia, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, France, Canada and Japan, plus the EU, Rice noted the call for restraint from Israel.
"With restraint, perhaps, we can get back to a place where there are hopes again for a peace process," Rice said.
At one point Thursday, officials inadvertently made it possible for reporters to hear conversations coming from the diplomats’ closed-door lunch.
Rice was heard telling Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that Iraq’s security problem extended to the Iraqi population, coalition forces, civilian contractors and journalists, not just diplomats. Four kidnapped Russian diplomats in Iraq were killed this week.
"And the implication that somehow by declaring that diplomats need to be protected it will get better, I think it’s simply not right," she said.
At another point, Lavrov responded to Rice by beginning, "Look, Condi, Condi, Condi, Condi."
On Iran, the G-8 diplomats called Tehran’s nuclear program "a source of international concern" and endorsed the offer to Iran.
The offer carries the threat of tough consequences if Iran refuses to back down, but Thursday’s statement makes no mention of that.
If Iran rejects the offer, the United States and European partners say they will revive efforts for U.N. Security Council punishment. Initial council action that stops short of sanctions could come later this summer, with sanctions following in the fall if previous holdouts Russia and China agree.
Lavrov did not directly respond to a question about whether U.N. economic sanctions would follow if Iran fails to reply or rejects the proposed bargain. Russian and China, permanent veto-holding members of the U.N. Security Council, have in the past opposed harsh measures for their commercial partner Tehran, but U.S. diplomats say those nations are expected to cooperate if the Iran case gets that far.
AP Writer Edith M. Lederer contributed to this report from the United Nations.