. . .

QUESTION: What's your take on the Iranian proposal that was submitted yesterday?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, we - obviously, the Swiss ambassador, among other ambassadors, received the Iran proposal yesterday. It is not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is obviously Iran's nuclear program. We are consulting with our other P-5+1 colleagues. There will be a conference call tomorrow involving the political officers to talk about next steps.

As our ambassador in - to the IAEA, Glyn Davies, said very compellingly yesterday, he reiterated, as we continue to, that we are willing to engage Iran in direct diplomacy based on mutual respect and mutual interests, and we seek a willing partner. But I think that as we consult with our P-5+1 colleagues, we'll be looking to see how ready Iran is to actually engage, and we will be testing that willingness to engage in the next few weeks.

QUESTION: P.J., on the --

QUESTION: When you say not - it's not really responsive, what does that mean?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, obviously, we have a wide range of interests, common interests, and concerns about Iran. And I should emphasize it's not just the concerns of the United States. It is the concerns of the international community. Iran is not in compliance with its NPT, IAEA, or UN obligations. And so we have offered through Javier Solana to have Iran join the P-5+1 in discussions about, in particular, our nuclear issues, but we have other issues of concern in terms of Iran's role and behavior in the region, its support of terrorism over many, many years. We would like to see Iran choose a different path. So there are a number of ways in which we have offered to and remain willing to engage Iran --

QUESTION: You said it's not really responsive to our greatest concern, which is --

MR. CROWLEY: Well, the - I think in --

QUESTION: So what does that mean? That they're not --

MR. CROWLEY: -- in the package yesterday, Iran reiterated its view that, as far as it is concerned, its nuclear file is closed. And as Ambassador Glyn Davies said very clearly yesterday, that is certainly not the case. There are many outstanding issues. Iran has failed to meet its obligations, has failed to cooperate sufficiently with the IAEA. So we remain open to direct dialogue with Iran. If we can get to that point, we would expect to engage on the full range of issues, including our concerns about Iran's nuclear ambitions.

And we - as Ambassador Davies reiterated yesterday, Iran has an opportunity here, and we hope that it will seize the opportunity, answer the questions that the international community has on its nuclear program, and move assertively to become a nation in good standing once again with the IAEA. And then there is room to explore how Iran can exercise the rights that it feels it has under the NPT. But as we emphasized yesterday and again, with rights comes responsibilities, and Iran is failing to live up to its responsibilities. But we would expect that should Iran indicate that it is, in fact, willing to engage the United States, other countries, that we would obviously want to talk about the nuclear issue among many others.

QUESTION: The Russian foreign minister said today there was something that - he looked at the paper that the Iranians submitted and said there was something in there that they could work with. So it sounds like you disagree with that statement.

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think that that's why we're going to have a close consultation with all of our P-5+1 partners, including Russia. We expect that follow-on call to happen tomorrow. And then from there, we would think that we'd have a common approach on how to respond to the Iranian proposal. And I think we remain willing to engage Iran, if it chooses to do so.

QUESTION: So yesterday's teleconference --

QUESTION: What is the U.S. position on events in Lebanon, where the prime minister-designate has failed --

MR. CROWLEY: Any other issues on Iran or --

QUESTION: I was just going to follow up on the --

MR. CROWLEY: Okay. I'll come back to you in a second.

QUESTION: So didn't yesterday's teleconference happen?

MR. CROWLEY: There was a teleconference yesterday, and the next one will occur tomorrow.

QUESTION: Do you have a readout? Any readout from that you can give us?

MR. CROWLEY: Well, I think we were touching base and - but we will - we obviously - we have a consistent position with our P-5+1 partners and want to make sure that we have a common strategy going forward. And we hope to kind of craft that common approach beginning tomorrow, and then I would think that we'll have a - find a way to respond formally to the Iranian proposal.

. . .