The United States said Wednesday it would join in face-to-face talks with
Iran over its disputed nuclear program once Tehran puts its atomic activities on
hold, a shift in tactics meant to offer the Iranians a last chance to avoid
punishing sanctions.
The U.S. wants a "positive
relationship" with Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said.
[AP] |
Iran dismissed the offer as "a propaganda
move."
At the White House, President Bush said that the U.S. would take a leading
role in solving the conflict and that it was important to do so diplomatically.
"Our message to the Iranians is that one, you won't have a weapon, and two,
that you must verifiably suspend any programs, at which point we will come to
the negotiating table to work on a way forward," Bush said.
Before leaving for meetings in Europe on Iran, Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice said that while the U.S. was willing to join talks between European nations
and Iran, it was also helping to prepare a package of sanctions that Tehran
could face should it decline the new offer.
"We're prepared to go either way," Rice said
The overture to join stalled European talks came after mounting pressure on
the U.S. from European allies.
The administration is convinced Russia and China would support sanctions or
other harsh measures if new talks fail to persuade Iran to abandon nuclear
efforts that the West fears could lead to a bomb, said a senior administration
official. The official briefed reporters on condition of anonymity because the
secretary was continuing talks with other countries.
Rice will be working to reaffirm such support on Thursday.
The Iranian news agency said Iran accepts only proposals and conditions that
are in the nation's interest. "Halting enrichment definitely doesn't meet such
interests," IRNA said.
The United States has had no diplomatic ties with Iran and few contacts at
all with its government since Islamic radicals took over the U.S. Embassy in
1979 and held diplomats for more than a year.
Rice will meet with foreign ministers from the other permanent U.N. Security
Council members on Thursday in Vienna to finalize a package of economic
incentives and threats to be presented to Tehran. That package would be on the
table in any new talks involving the United States.
The Bush administration had until now refused to talk directly to the
Iranians about their nuclear program, although there have been sporadic contacts
among relatively low-level officials on other subjects. The U.S. has long
rejected direct contacts because it says Tehran supports terrorism and because
it wants to avoid appearing to legitimize the regime.
The offer to talk should strip Iran and some U.S. allies of the argument that
the hardline U.S. stance was an obstacle, or that Washington was not willing to
try every means to resolve the impasse peacefully, U.S. officials said.
"This is the last excuse, in some sense," Rice said.
She said the United States was not offering full diplomatic relations with
Iran and would not swear off ever using military action to stop what the U.S.
contends is a rogue program to build a nuclear weapon.
"This is not a grand bargain," Rice said. "What we're talking about here is
an effort to enhance the chances for a successful negotiated solution to the
Iranian nuclear problem."
The administration has given arms-length support to European efforts to
bargain with Iran, but also has been the prime mover for sanctions or other
tough United Nations action. Russia and China, Iran's commercial allies on the
council, have so far blocked that path.
Rice would not directly answer questions about whether those nations are
committed to tough measures if the U.S. overture doesn't work.
She spoke of "tactical differences" and said, "I think you can be sure that
our friends and our partners understand the importance of the step and the
importance that the Iranians must now see of making a choice and making that
choice clearly."
In New York, the U.N. ambassadors from China and Russia said the U.S.
announcement showed it is more serious about finding a diplomatic solution to
the dispute. Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya added that Washington's offer to
talk to Iran should be unconditional.
In Brussels, Belgium, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana
welcomed the U.S. words. "Direct U.S. participation would be the strongest and
most positive signal of our common wish to reach an agreement with Iran," he
said.
British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said, "The European side's goal is
to present a serious and substantial offer of cooperation, which demonstrates to
Iran the benefits that would flow from compliance ... rather than the further
isolation which would result from their failure to do so."
The U.S. offer is conditioned on Iran suspending its enrichment of uranium
and related activities and allowing inspections to prove it. European nations
and the Security Council have demanded the same thing, but Iran has refused to
comply.
Iran did suspend enrichment activities while talks were active with the
Europeans last year but resumed and stepped up the program this spring.
Uranium enrichment can led either to a bomb or to nuclear power production,
and Iran has so far insisted that it won't take any deal that involves giving up
that technology.
If Iran agreed to suspend disputed activities in order to talk with the
United States, it could still insist on resuming them later, which U.S.
officials say would be a deal-breaker.
At that point, the United States and its allies would be expected to move for
tough U.N. action, possibly including economic or other sanctions.
