Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Sunday that parts of the six-nation package to break the impasse over the nuclear issue are "acceptable," while others should be "eliminated."
"We started studying the proposals immediately after they were handed to us," Asefi told reporters in his weekly press conference. "Some points of the package are acceptable, some have ambiguities, some points need to be strengthened, some should be eliminated."
He said that there was no time limit for Iran to respond, adding that Iran "is not trying to buy time."
"We must study the package, time is not a problem if needed, and we will also put forward our own proposals when we respond to them," said the spokesman.
Meanwhile, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, met Sunday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit to discuss Teheran's position.
"The Iranian nuclear program does not represent any danger to Arab and Islamic nations because it deals with peaceful nuclear technology," Larijani said after talks with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.
"We don't seek a nuclear bomb and the program will help Arab and Islamic countries," he said.
Moussa said Larijani gave "full assurance that their program is peaceful" and that he discussed with him concerns over the program among Gulf countries.
US President George W. Bush said on Friday that Iran would have just weeks to accept the six-nation package, or face possible sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that Iran was studying the package and may make its own package in response. "We hope the Europeans can carefully study Iran's proposals, which may appear in the form of amendments or a totally new package," he said.
European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Tuesday presented a package of both incentives and penalties to Iran to persuade Teheran to suspend uranium enrichment, which was agreed on by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in Vienna on June 1.
(China Daily June 12, 2006)
