IRAN:IRAN WILL today be given a month to accept a package of incentives in return for curbing its nuclear programme or face new sanctions, in an ultimatum to be presented in person by a team of international diplomats.
The team arriving in Tehran this morning under the leadership of the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, includes the political directors of the foreign ministries of Britain, Russia, China, France and Germany.
The US, the sixth member of the group negotiating with Iran over its nuclear ambitions, will not be represented. The Bush administration has said it will not enter into direct negotiations with Iran on the issue until Tehran complies with UN security council demands to suspend uranium enrichment.
However, the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, has jointly signed a letter with the foreign ministers of the five other nations to be handed to the Iranian government.
Also hanging over today's talks is uncertainty over whether military action might be taken against Iran if it proceeds with its current nuclear programme.
This week, US President George W Bush once more refused to rule out the use of force, but he was mocked by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran who said: "Bush's time is up, and he was not able to harm even one centimetre of our land."
Israel's transport minister and former army chief of staff, Shaul Mofaz, however, has said publicly that a strike on Iran may be "unavoidable".