Tehran ponders incentive deal

The country is considering an offer of aid for disbanding its nuclear program.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iran said Sunday that it accepted some parts of a Western offer aimed at getting Tehran to drop its nuclear program, but it rejected others while calling the central point ambiguous.
In its first specific comments on the incentive package, Iran said the key issue of uranium enrichment -- a process that can make nuclear fuel for a power plant or fissile material for an atomic bomb -- needed clarification.
And top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said Iran would reject the package outright if Western powers threatened the Islamic republic with sanctions in the nuclear standoff.
The comments came as the United States and Europe lobbied other nations to join them this week in urging Iran to accept the offer -- and warning of U.N. Security Council action if it does not -- according to documents shared with The Associated Press in Vienna, Austria.
The offer
The package, presented by permanent Security Council members the United States, Russia, China, France and Britain, plus Germany, contains a series of incentives for Iran to suspend uranium enrichment, which would allow negotiations over its nuclear ambitions.
The incentives include promises that the United States and Europe will provide Iran nuclear technology and that Washington will join direct talks with Tehran.
Iran has not responded to the offer, and it underlined Sunday that it would not be rushed. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi insisted Iran was not stalling over the package and would take "as long as is necessary" to study it.
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