Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has begun talks with his German counterpart amid mounting suspense over Tehran's response to an incentive package offered if it stops enriching uranium. Mottaki met with Frank-Walter Steinmeier at about 1030 GMT in a government guest house in the posh southern suburb of Dahlem as planned and not at his ministry in central Berlin, a spokeswoman confirmed Saturday.
They are to make short statements to the press after their encounter.
The meeting comes as Iran weighs its reply to a package offered by the five permanent UN Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus Germany to resolve the dispute over its disputed nuclear program peacefully.
The proposal promises incentives and multilateral talks if Iran agrees to temporarily halt the uranium enrichment that is at the heart of fears the hardline regime could develop nuclear weapons.
Tehran insists the work is only to provide fuel for nuclear energy.
Diplomats say Tehran was asked to answer by June 29, but Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday the Islamic republic would take until August 22 to answer.
Javad Vaidi, deputy secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said Friday that suspending uranium enrichment will be neither a pre-condition for talks with the world powers on its nuclear activities nor an outcome of those discussions.
"Iran considers that suspension is neither a pre-condition to nor the result of negotiations," Vaidi told AFP.
The foreign policy spokesman from German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, Ruprecht Polenz, said that the West was not demanding a permanent suspension of uranium enrichment.
"One could imagine a period of 10 to 15 years," he said Saturday, adding that Iran should use that time to demonstrate to the world that it is a constructive partner for peace in the region.
The Berlin talks could help lay the groundwork for a meeting next week between Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, who handed Tehran the world powers' proposal June 6.
Germany is part of the so-called EU-3 along with Britain and France which has been working for more than two years to try to resolve the crisis with Iran and most recently, foster a consensus on the issue with the United States, China and Russia.
Berlin has long-standing diplomatic relations and strong economic ties with Iran, which diplomats say has given it a key role in the negotiations.
Germany's large Iranian exile community called a demonstration Saturday against Mottaki, who is on a European tour.
Two football World Cup matches by the Iranian football team were met by protests by Jewish groups in Germany over Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust and calls for the destruction of Israel.
The players left Germany Friday after taking last place in Group D.
