TEHRAN, Iran (AP) and posted by USA Today - Iran’s president on Sunday, July 30, 2006, said the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon has forced Tehran to re-evaluate a Western nuclear incentives package, but his country still plans to respond to the offer next month.

“Events in Lebanon affected our evaluations about … (the) package of incentives. We should review it carefully. I have asked my colleagues to review it more carefully,” President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during a news conference. Earlier in the day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned that Tehran would abandon the package if the U.N. Security Council approves a resolution against it on Monday:

“If any resolution is issued against Iran tomorrow, the package would be left off the agenda by Iran,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters.
“We will definitely revise our nuclear policy.”

Asefi’s comments were the first official Iranian response to a draft resolution giving it until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of international sanctions.

The draft was formally circulated to the full 15-member U.N. Security Council late Friday and observers said it would likely be adopted in the next week - The Draft was indeed adopted on Monday July 31, 2006.

Referring to the crisis in Lebanon, Asefi said on Sunday that any Security Council action against Iran “will confront the region with more tension.”

Tehran said last week it would reply by Aug. 22 to a Western incentives package, but the council decided to go ahead with its draft resolution anyway. The package includes economic incentives and a provision for the United States to offer Iran some nuclear technology, lift some sanctions and join direct negotiations.

The proposal also calls for Iran to impose a long-term moratorium on uranium enrichment, which can produce reactor fuel or bomb material.

The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons. Tehran maintains its program is purely peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.

Iran has said in the past it will never give up its right under the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel but has indicated it may
temporarily suspend large-scale activities to ease tensions.

The 15-member Security Council adopted the resolution on Iran - by 14 votes to 1 - threatening possible diplomatic and economic sanctions against Iran unless Tehran agrees to suspend uranium enrichment by the end of next month. Qatar’s UN ambassador, Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, said he had voted against the UN resolution because of the Lebanon conflict.
“We do not agree with the resolution at a time when our region is in flames,” he said. President Bush urged Iran to “end its financial support and supply of weapons to terrorist groups like Hizbollah”.

Tension Over Iran - Other articles on Iran as posted by USA Today:
Deadline: U.N. gives Iran until the end of August
Iran to re-evaluate nuke incentive package
Firms suspected of WMD ties penalized
Korea resolution could help U.N. face Iran
‘Acceptable basis’ seen for talks
Deal: Western incentives revealed | Rice disappointed by Iran’s initial response
Iranian negotiator expects ‘long process’
Ahmadinejad: Israeli attack will foster backlash

The Security Council Resolution as adopted on July 31, 2006, the last day of the French Presidency of the Security Council:

The Following is the US reaction to the Security Council Resolution: