Iran Says Incentives Proposal Needs Study

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, center, meets with German ambassador Baron Paul Von Maltzahn, right, in Iran. (Hasan Sarbakhshian - AP)

The package was drawn up Friday in Vienna by the United States along with the four other veto-wielding members of the U.N. Security Council _ Britain, France, Russia and China _ plus Germany.

Solana, who arrived in Tehran on Monday night, met Larijani for two hours at the Supreme National Security Council building in central Tehran. Journalists were barred from the building.

Iran's initial reaction contained none of its usual insistence that it would never give up its right to enrichment.

"The proposals contain positive steps and also some ambiguities," Larijani said.

He did not identify the "ambiguities," but he said he had discussed them with Solana and that more talks would be required.

"We hope we will have negotiations and deliberations again after we have carefully studied the proposals," he said.

"This is a framework of cooperation that requires taking careful steps from the outset," Larijani said.

State-run television, in Persian, quoted Solana after the meeting as saying that the talks were "constructive" and that he looked forward to a "bright future."

"The meeting has been very useful," Solana said afterward in comments aired on state-run TV's English-language channel.

"I have a feeling that it has been very, very constructive," he said, adding that the two sides would have contacts in the coming days on the proposals.

Solana was to explain the details of the package but go no further. The EU envoy, who is heading a seven-person delegation, later met Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki before leaving Iran later Tuesday.

"It was agreed that the Islamic Republic of Iran will study the package. We will inform our friends of Iran's views after a careful study," Mottaki told state television after his talks with Solana. The EU envoy was expected to leave Iran later Tuesday.