Iran has given no clear answer to a package of incentives for suspending its nuclear program, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Saturday.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana (L) shakes hand with Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili before a meeting on nuclear issues at the Town Hall in Geneva, July 19, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
"We didn't get the answer to our questions," Solana said at a press conference after talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in the presence of U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns and senior diplomats from China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.
"We hope very much we get the answer and we hope it will be done in a couple of weeks," he said.
The package of incentives, presented last month by the five UN Security Council permanent members plus Germany, suggests that Iran get a temporary reprieve from economic and financial sanctions in exchange for freezing its enrichment activities.
Preliminary negotiations over a permanent halt could then begin, although the United States would not join them until after Iran agrees to fully suspend uranium enrichment. But Solana appraised the one-day meeting as "constructive." He said they talked frankly about everything, including common points as well as differences on the nuclear issue.
He also expressed belief that the issue should be resolved through cooperation instead of confrontation.
Jalili also said the meeting was constructive and it enhanced the understanding of each other's views.
According to the nuclear negotiator, Iran has also presented its own package of proposals on solving the nuclear issue, and that package contains "a number of opportunities that should not be lost."
