2006年VOA标准英语-EU to Offer Iran Incentives to End Nuclear

（单词翻译）

By Lisa Bryant
Paris
15 May 2006

Javier Solana (File photo)   
  
The European Union says it will offer Iran an incentive¹ package to abandon its controversial nuclear program. The initiative comes as European foreign ministers meet in Brussels.

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European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana told reporters in Brussels that the EU incentives² to Iran will be generous and bold, and will relate to nuclear, economic, and possibly security matters.

"We are preparing a very serious package that we think it will be difficult for them to say no [[to] - if what they really want is energy," he said.

If Iran wants something different, Solana said, that will also become clear.

Solana spoke³ before an EU foreign ministers meeting - which includes ministers from Britain, France and Germany, the three European countries working to diffuse⁴ the nuclear standoff between Iran and the West.

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful civilian⁵ purposes - to develop nuclear energy. But the United States and Europe fear Tehran is trying to acquire a nuclear weapon.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has rejected the new incentives before they have been presented. In remarks broadcast on Irans state television Sunday, he described the European proposals as invalid⁶.

Tehran's steadfast⁷ refusal to abandon its nuclear activities poses a dilemma⁸ for the West, as it seeks a diplomatic solution to the standoff. European and U.S. efforts to impose U.N. sanctions against Tehran are stymied⁹ by opposition¹⁰ from Russia and China, which wield¹¹ veto power at the U.N. Security Council .

European officials reportedly hope to finalize¹² their new incentives package by Friday, when the five Security Council members, plus Germany, meet in London. Luxembourg's foreign minister described the package as one of the last chances to resolve the standoff diplomatically.