Comes up short. I love it.
Posted on 08/24/2006 6:20:41 AM PDT by areafiftyone
BERLIN - Germany said Thursday that Iran's response to a package of incentives for halting its nuclear program appears unsatisfactory because it is missing a reference to whether Tehran will suspend uranium enrichment.
"We are still examining it, but from everything that I hear we cannot be satisfied," Chancellor Angela Merkel said in an interview with N24 television.
Tehran on Tuesday presented its response to the package of incentives, drawn up by the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and Germany. It did not publicly disclose full details of its response.
The Security Council has set an Aug. 31 deadline for Iran to halt enrichment or face the possibility of economic and political sanctions.
Merkel said Germany and its partners had hoped for Tehran to say, "'We are suspending our uranium enrichment, we are coming to the negotiating table and we will then talk about the chances and possibilities for Iran."
"That unfortunately is not the case," she said. "We will call for this to happen in the coming days, but the decisive sentence is missing in this answer," she added.
Tehran says its enrichment, which can produce reactor fuel or fissile material for a bomb, is for purely peaceful purposes. The U.S. and some allies suspects that the program is cover for making atomic weapons.
Iran maintains it has offered "positive and clear signals" to resolve the dispute over its nuclear program,
French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy has said Iran must suspend uranium enrichment if it wants to return to negotiations, but Russia's foreign ministry has said it would continue to seek a negotiated solution and China has appealed for patience and more dialogue.
The State Department has acknowledged that Iran considered its proposal to be a serious one and promised to "review it."
But a 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 in exchange for halting the enrichment program "falls short of the conditions set by the Security Council" — full and verifiable suspension of all uranium-enrichment activity.
The benefits include the possibility of U.S. help for civilian nuclear programs.
"We are consulting closely, including with other members of the Security Council, on next steps," the U.S. statement said.
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 also spoke 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.
I continue to be surprised that Europe appears to care at all about Iranian nuclear ambitions.
They care more about all the potential weapons, heavy machinery, airbust planes, and nuclear technology they potentially can sell them if sanctions are lifted, not imposed.
Comes up short. I love it.
ROFLMAO!!!
Probably you are right.
That is true to some extent, but Europe is also very concerned about the crazy Iranian regime getting its hands on nuclear weapons. Many people in Iran have a strong belief in the concept of martyrdom, and that concept combined with nuclear weapons is gravely dangerous.
How do you propose we apply your last sentence - and your tag line - to our 'ally' to the east of Iran.
HA HA!
Yeh, yeh, yeh… Keep talking to them, that’s going to get you much. May be they can talk them in to converting to Judaism or Christianity. HA!!! I am laughing and crying every morning I read the news. I wonder how the negotiations go?
EURO: Mr. Ahmanisdazoidaobodizad, if you promises us, and all you have to do is just give us your word, that you will not be killing any more Jews and infidels…
IRAN: NO.. WE WILL KILL YOU ALL!
EURO: But what if we give you free 1 year subscription to playboy chanel?
IRAN: NO.. WE KILL YOU ALL
EURO: OK, Well, don’t rush in to anything right now, how about you think about it and we can chat again, umm, let’s say in a month? Would that work for you?
IRAN: Death to America!! Death to Israle!! KILL!!! KILL!!! KILL!!!
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