Iran’s initial response encourages president

Published Wednesday, June 7, 2006

WASHINGTON (AP) - President George W. Bush said yesterday that Iran’s initial reaction to a package of incentives and threats on the nuclear impasse "sounds like a positive response to me."

"We will see if the Iranians take our offer seriously," Bush said in Laredo, Texas, where he was speaking about immigration overhaul. "The choice is theirs to make.

"I have said the United States will come and sit down at the table with them so long as they are willing to suspend their enrichment in a verifiable way. So it sounds like a positive response to me."

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana laid out the potential rewards and consequences yesterday during a visit to Tehran. He later told Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by phone that the Iranians said they would need time to consider the proposal, Department of State spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Solana called the discussions "very useful and constructive," McCormack said.

Bush said in Laredo that he wanted to resolve the issue with Iran diplomatically. Earlier in the day, the administration said it would give Iran "a little bit of space" to consider the package but added that the offer was not open-ended.

"It’s a matter of weeks, not months," McCormack said. "We want to give this every opportunity to succeed. The diplomacy, I would say, is at a sensitive stage."