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Gulf Nations to Send Delegates to Iran
The five U.N. Security Council nations plus Germany are working on a draft proposal that would offer Iran an end to council pressure and offer economic incentives if Tehran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment. But if Iran refuses, it would face sanctions backed by the threat of force.
Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki cast doubt on the deal Saturday saying "suspending nuclear activities goes against our legitimate rights"
  Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, waves to the crowd during a public gatheing in the city of Zarandieh as a part of his tour to the Markazi province southwest of the capital Tehran, Iran, Thursday, May 18, 2006. Ahmadinejad on Wednesday mocked a package of incentives to suspend Uranium enrichment, a defiance that appeared certain to complicate U.S. efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions. (AP Photo/Sajjad Safari, Mehr News) (Sajjad Safari - AP) PHOTOSDiplomatic Dispatches
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But on Sunday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said Iran will respond to the European proposal once it officially receives it.
"One should not be hasty," he told reporters. "However, any package has to guarantee Iran's rights. ... The basis of our work is clear. We won't get back to the past. We won't stop uranium enrichment."
The Security Council has demanded Iran stop enrichment, a crucial process that can produce either fuel for a reactor or material for a nuclear warhead. The United States accuses Iran of seeking to produce weapons, though Iran insists it intends only to generate electricity.
Iran has insisted it will never entirely give up enrichment. But it suspended the process in November 2004 as a gesture to boost negotiations with Europe and to avert U.N. sanctions. It resumed enrichment in February 2006 after it was referred to the Security Council by the U.N. atomic watchdog agency.
There was no immediate Iranian confirmation of the visit by the envoy from the Arab Gulf nations.
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AP correspondents Diana Elias and Frieder Reimold in Kuwait and Lara Sukhtian in Dubai contributed to this report.