Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul told Newsweek that Iran would be willing to pause its nuclear activities once it received firm assurances that a Western incentive package would be fully delivered. Gul said Iranian leaders, including President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, viewed the offer favorably, describing it as distinct from earlier proposals.
Gul cautioned that mutual distrust remained an obstacle, but expressed optimism that goodwill on both sides could lead to a resolution. The incentive package was put forward by the five permanent UN Security Council members plus Germany, combining diplomatic and economic benefits in exchange for a suspension of uranium enrichment.
The statement came shortly after Ahmadinejad publicly ruled out any halt to enrichment, even temporarily, contradicting the core Western demand. Talks in Berlin between EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani had ended without a breakthrough just days earlier.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program serves purely civilian energy purposes and rejects US claims that it is pursuing weapons capability. World powers had set an early October 2006 deadline for Tehran to cease enrichment activities.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in October 2006, in its own words.