The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Tehran

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said a "new process" was underway in the five-year nuclear crisis with the West after the delivery of a proposal by world powers to Tehran, media reported on Wednesday. "A process is underway and it started with the package delivered by Iran," Mottaki said in an interview with US media in New York, according to the state-run IRNA news agency.

"This package presented tackled important questions and then on the other side the world powers offered their own package," he said.

Six world powers last month presented Iran with a proposal aimed at ending the crisis which offers technological incentives in exchange for Tehran suspending uranium enrichment, which the West fears could be used to make an atomic bomb.

Iran's own package is a more all-embracing effort to solve global problems and notably suggests the setting up of a consortium in Iran for enriching uranium.

According to IRNA, Mottaki was asked about the question of suspending uranium enrichment. But he did not give any direct comment on the subject.

Mottaki said talks with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who presented the package in Tehran last month, were "respectful and a bit different from the past".

"We are studying it (the package) with a constructive regard," he said.