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No answer from Iran on nuclear proposals - Solana

Sat Jul 19, 2008 8:54pm IST
 
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GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran has given no clear answer to a proposal of incentives for suspending its nuclear programme at talks with six powers trying to resolve the long-running dispute, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said on Saturday.

"We have not got a clear answer ... we didn't get an answer 'yes' or 'no' and we hope that it will be given soon," he said.

"I hope to have an answer to that and other questions in two weeks' time," he told a news conference at the end of the talks in Geneva.

He said the talks with Iran's chief negotiator Saeed Jalili, attended for the first time by a by senior U.S. diplomat, had been substantive and constructive.

Iran had an opportunity to get engaged with the international community, he said.

There had been a response from Tehran to the proposals in the form of a letter, but "we have not got a clear answer to the most important issue that we sent in the document called 'The Way Forward'," Solana said.

Iranian officials ruled out any freeze in uranium enrichment on Saturday at the start of talks.

"Any kind of suspension or freeze is out of the question," an Iranian official told Reuters, rejecting the main condition set by the United States and other major powers for formal negotiations to end the dispute.

The high-level U.S. participation in the one-day meeting in Geneva, together with Iranian comments playing down the likelihood of an attack by the United States and Israel, had raised hopes of progress and helped ease record oil prices.  Continued...

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