PARIS (AFP) — EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said Monday he hoped to meet later this month with Iran's top nuclear negotiator after Tehran gave its response to the latest offer to halt uranium enrichment.
Solana refused to give details of the response delivered on Friday to an international package of incentives aimed at persuading Iran to end uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make nuclear weapons.
Asked when he planned to meet with top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, Solana said "I hope before the end of the month."
Iran on Saturday offered to negotiate on its nuclear drive but without a freeze on uranium enrichment, in its first comments since responding to the package aimed at ending the standoff.
Solana said world powers were still in talks about Iran's response and a possible counter-offer.
"We have not answered yet," he said on the sidelines of an EU-NATO meeting in Paris.
Diplomatic sources said Solana may hold pre-negotiations during which world powers would refrain from new sanctions provided Iran did not start operating any more centrifuges to enrich uranium.
Jalili has said his country submitted a "constructive and creative" response with "a focus on common ground," but he did not elaborate on the contents.
Iran insists its programme to develop nuclear energy is peaceful, but Western powers fear Tehran is seeking to develop atomic weapons.
US President George W. Bush has not ruled out using force in the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West, but emphasised that he preferred a diplomatic solution.
Speculation has been rife that Israel could be planning a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, using force to halt Tehran's controversial atomic activities.
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