European countries have asked the United States to consider selling new planes to Iran as part of a proposed package of incentives aimed at resolving the nuclear crisis.Reuters reports the package was formally presented to the United States, Russia and China on Thursday by Britain, France, Germany and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Last year the United States signed on to a European initiative aimed at persuading Iran to abandon nuclear weapons-related activities. As part of the agreement, it agreed to consider selling airplane spare parts as an inducement to Tehran.
However, Iran has also asked for planes to update its aging fleet.
A senior European diplomat told reporters, "could we go beyond spare parts and consider providing Iran with new planes, which would necessarily need acceptance by the U.S."
