Iran Says Will Offer Nuke Package Changes
Saturday, June 17, 2006; 10:50 AM
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's foreign minister said Saturday the government likely would suggest amendments to a Western package of incentives meant to persuade the Islamic republic to give up its uranium enrichment program.
Manouchehr Mottaki would not give any timing for Iran's response. The Tehran regime previously has said some parts of the package were acceptable while others needed to be changed, and the central issue of uranium enrichment needed clarification.
"It is a step forward," he said.
Mottaki said Iran would come up with its own amendments to the package.
"In the end, we will present our proposals. It's a two-way street," he told reporters at a joint news conference with Iraqi politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who heads that country's largest Shiite party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Ok, they're going to send back a proposal that the U.S. and The EU will reject and make a counter offer to. Then the diplomatic wrangling (aka haggling) really begins. What will be telling is how long it takes them to come up with each counter offer. If they continually counter offer quickly, it means that they are actually willing to cut a deal. If their counter offers take months, then they are stalling for time and we'll have a real problem unless satellite intelligence shows that they are demolishing installations between offers.
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