G8 Foreign Ministers To Discuss Iran
Nji Che - All Headline News Staff Writer Moscow, Russia (AHN) - Foreign ministers from the G8 member countries will discuss possible ways to get Iran to respond faster to the atomic incentives offered by western nations when they meet in Moscow on Thursday. The move is a continuation of a long running process to persuade Iran to give up uranium enrichment. Major western powers offered Iran a set of incentives aimed at convincing Tehran to give up its nuclear enrichment earlier this month. Although the incentives did not spell out the deadline for a reply, Iran was expected to reply by the end of June. Two weeks ago, Iran said it was still looking at the incentives. The European Union and United States have both urged Iran to respond faster after it said it would give its reply by the end of August. The western powers say they want Iran to respond before the G8 leaders meet during their annual summit scheduled for Moscow on July 15-17. EU External Relations Commission Benita Ferrero-Waldner told reporters, "Of course we will speak again about our offer," she said. Ferrero-Waldner added that, "We do hope that very soon the Iranians will very soon come back with an answer ... I think it is important that the Vienna package gets a wider endorsement at the meeting tomorrow." Iran's supreme authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Tuesday dismissed direct nuclear talks with the U.S. saying they had no benefits for his country. |
