G8 leaders said on Sunday that they supported the decision to
return the Iranian nuclear issue to the UN Security Council and
urged Tehran to respond positively to incentives made on June
6.
"We stand fully behind the far reaching proposals presented to
Iran on June 6, 2006 on behalf of China, France, Germany, Russia,
the United Kingdom, the United States of America with the support
of the High Representative of the European Union for a long-term
comprehensive agreement with Iran based on cooperation and mutual
respect," a joint statement said.
The leaders of the Group of Eight industrialized countries said
in the statement that they expected Iran to give a positive
response to the proposals.
The leaders also expressed full solidarity with the decision
made four days ago to raise the problem of Iranian nuclear projects
again to the United Nations Security Council.
At that meeting in Paris, the foreign ministers from the
above-mentioned six countries expressed their "profound
disappointment" over the absence of any indication from Iranian
that they would seriously respond the proposals.
"We support the Paris appeal to Iran to respond positively to
the substantive proposals made on June 6, 2006," said the G8
leaders at their annual summit.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said Iran would
respond to the incentives by August 22.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2006)
