By Xinhua,
Brussels : Javier Solana, foreign policy chief of the European Union, received a reply from Iran Tuesday to an incentive package aimed at encouraging Tehran to suspend uranium enrichment, an EU source said.
Solana’s office received a letter from Iran, but yet to analyze it, according to an unnamed aide of Solana, who has kept in touch on the issue with Iran on behalf of France, China, Russia, Britain, the United States and Germany.
Solana held a phone conversation with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili Monday to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue as a follow-up to the meeting they had in Geneva on July 19.
A news release from his office did not give more details about their conversation, but said that “Solana will be in touch with the authorities” of the six nations, which have offered Iran the package for its suspension of uranium enrichment activities.
Their talks came two days after the expiration of a deadline set at the Geneva meeting for Iran to give “a clear answer” to the offer.
Solana, who handed the incentive package in June to the Iranian authorities, will hold a conference call Wednesday with representatives of the countries to analyze Iran’s reply.
U.S. officials said Tuesday Iran’s response to an incentives offer by world major powers to halt its nuclear program is unacceptable.
The Associated Press quoted unidentified U.S. government officials as saying that the brief one-page letter Iran presented to Solana is a restatement of Tehran’s insistence on the right to conduct peaceful nuclear activities rather than a definitive reply to the offer from major world powers to suspend uranium enrichment and reprocessing in exchange for economic and other benefits.