Related: Iran Nuclear Issue

 

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana speaks to journalists at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran June 5, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP)

    TEHRAN, June 6 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU)'s foreign policy chief Javier Solana flew into Tehran Monday evening to formally present to Iran's leadership the latest international proposal over Iran's controversial nuclear program.

    Upon his arrival at the Tehran airport, Solana told reporters that he hoped the new package would "enable a new phase of relations between Iran and the EU based on mutual respect and trust."

    The package, agreed on last Thursday in Vienna by five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, includes incentives and possible sanctions if Iran chooses not to comply.

    Solana is expected to meet Tuesday with Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani to deliver the proposal.

    Mottaki, who just returned from a trip to Oman, said that the EU and Iran would launch what he termed "shuttle diplomacy" in an effort to overcome differences about Iran's nuclear program.

    He said Iran would review the EU's incentives package and respond after he and Larijani meet with Solana on Tuesday.

    "If there is the political will to solve Iran's nuclear issue without any attempt to politicize it, I think we can come to a comprehensive agreement," he said.

    But he also warned that Iran was prepared to use oil as a weapon if the confrontation escalated.

    "We have two options -- one is cooperation, the other is confrontation," he said. "Considering the United States' adventurism, the trend could rather go toward the second option. If so, Iran would use all its potentials for defending its rights."

    Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mottaki have said that Iran would "thoroughly" evaluate the new nuclear proposal without making any prejudgment.

    But they also have indicated that any proposal containing an ultimatum to Iran for suspending the enrichment program would not be acceptable.

    UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric affirmed Monday that Secretary-General Kofi Annan has spoken to Ahmadinejad, asking him to consider the package of proposals by the EU.

    Dujarric told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York that the secretary-general spoke to the Iranian president Friday afternoon.

    The basic point of that conversation, the spokesman said, was to encourage the president to give full consideration to the package of proposals to be presented by Solana.

    Details of the proposal package have not been announced, but diplomats have been working on themes ranging from offering nuclear reactor technology to giving security guarantees.

    The nuclear standoff has unsettled jittery oil markets, where traders fear an escalation in the dispute could disrupt supplies from Iran, the world's fourth largest oil exporter. Enditem