Agence France Presse, PARIS – Iran’s response to a Western offer aimed at resolving the standoff over its nuclear programme appears "disappointing and incomplete", US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned on Wednesday.
"I want to wait, to hear from (EU foreign policy envoy) Javier Solana first hand about how he sees the situation, but certainly the indications are that Iran’s response has been disappointing and incomplete," Rice told reporters ahead of a meeting of world powers in Paris. But she stressed that "negotiation is still the best path and negotiation is still open".
The Paris talks — involving the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany and the EU’s Solana — come a day after a meeting in Brussels with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator described by the EU as "unsatisfactory".
World powers are seeking a rapid response from Iran on a package of economic and political incentives designed to persuade it to freeze uranium enrichment — a process needed to fuel a nuclear reactor but which could also be used to make a bomb.
Western powers have repeatedly warned that Iran would be exposing itself to Security Council action if it rejects the offer.
"If in fact we go to the Security Council, we will take our time in terms of putting together the best reponses from the Security Council in order to get the Iranians to reconsider their ways," Rice told reporters.
"I think the best thing is to make sure that the Iranians understand that the world considers a suspension (of uranium enrichment) to be mandatory, volontary… but mandatory," Rice said.
Following Tuesday’s talks in Brussels, Iranian envoy Ari Larijani warned of a "long road" ahead in the standoff with the West, saying the issue of suspending uranium enrichment remained a central problem.
Iran is refusing to bow to international pressure in the high-stakes standoff and has said it would not give an answer before August.
